Lucid Group posted disappointing third-quarter results, missing widely on revenue estimates and production numbers. The company’s $138 million in revenue was a nearly 30% drop year over year, far below analyst estimates of $197 million. This makes the fourth consecutive quarter Lucid has come in under expectations.
Net loss has also steadily increased through the year: in Q3 alone Lucid burned through $630 million, a nearly 20% increase from Q2, and the total for the year sits at just over $2 billion.
Production-wise, it’s also been a bumpy road. Lucid started the year with a production guidance of 10,000 to 14,000 cars, but that was cut to just 10,000, and now executives expect to make between 8,000 and 8,500 cars. In Q3, the company managed to produce 1,550 cars, bringing its total for the year to 6,037.
“I want to make clear that production is not our bottleneck,” said CFO Sherry House. “But rather we’re taking a prudent approach to inventory management and working capital to better align with deliveries.”
It wasn’t all bad news for the luxury car company during the third quarter: Lucid closed its deal with Aston Martin where Lucid will supply the company with the electric motor and battery system in its Air sedan for Aston Martin’s coming hybrid, Valhalla. Lucid received $33 million in cash and 28.35 million shares of the British company as part of the deal.
Production of the Lucid Air Sapphire, which starts at $249,000, began as well. It also became the first company to open a car manufacturing factory in Saudi Arabia.
“Our facility will pave the way for the country’s electric automotive industry and the expansion of the supply chain, and with the support of the Saudi Government, we are proud to drive local talent development in the technology industry,” said Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson in a press release. “We look forward to delivering Saudi-assembled cars to customers in Saudi Arabia and beyond.”
For now, the Advanced Manufacturing Plant, AMP-2, is beginning as a semi knocked-down facility and will only re-assemble vehicles manufactured at Lucid’s AMP-1 in Casa Grande, Arizona. In its first phase, it will have an expected capability of 5,000 cars a year, but executives expect the factory to eventually transition to a complete build unit facility and produce 155,000 vehicles a year.
In addition to its work on the Air Sapphire, the Lucid team also began production of its cheapest vehicle to date, the Air Pure rear-wheel drive. Rawlinson described the vehicle, which gets up to 419 miles of range, as Lucid’s “most attainable” with its starting price of $77,400.
Looking forward, Lucid remains on track to begin production of its first SUV, the Gravity, in early 2024. The company ended the quarter with $5.54 billion of cash on hand, which House said was enough to fund the company through 2025.
Shares of Lucid (Ticker: LCID) fell to $3.97 per share after reporting earnings, down from $4.30 the previous day, part of its overall downward trend in the past six months. The shares are trading at $4.16 as of writing, putting the company’s market capitalization at just over $9.5 billion.
