While supplier issues were responsible for Lucid’s slow manufacturing ramp initially, Rawlinson said, the startup was unable to accelerate production once those shortages eased.
“As we attempted to push forward the rate, we found that our logistics constraints prevented us from scaling meaningfully this past quarter,” Rawlinson said. “For example, our ability to feed the parts through the line at the correct time and cadence.”
Lucid, which reported first-half production of 1,405 vehicles and deliveries of 1,039, has had to hold back Air inventory to correct quality issues, Rawlinson said. It has also had unplanned production shutdowns to fix logistics issues, he said.
But the company said it has identified the primary bottlenecks and is implementing solutions.
Lucid is bringing its logistics operation in-house, adding executives with deep experience, and restructuring its manufacturing operations so that it can scale to meet customer demand and quality expectations for a luxury marque.
“Make no mistake,” Rawlinson said. “Although frustrating, this is a phase of our growth as a company that we will power through. We have a product, we’ve augmented our work force, and we’re improving our processes to enable this to happen.”
As part of the changes, Lucid announced the appointment of Steven David as senior vice president of operations, which it described as a new role in the company.
David will oversee supply chain, logistics, manufacturing and quality, Lucid said Wednesday. He most recently worked as head of component operations at Stellantis in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Lucid has also recruited two industry veterans to its leadership team this year.
Evelyn Chiang, a former Tesla vice president, was named Lucid’s vice president of process transformation, the automaker said. Walter Ludwig, previously head of logistics at Mercedes-Benz Argentina, was appointed as vice president of global logistics.
