Lucid Motors (LCID) will continue offering the $7,500 federal EV tax credit for Gravity buyers until the end of the year. Lucid’s interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, said the electric SUV has “so many orders” and it doesn’t want buyers to lose out on the savings.

Are orders for Lucid’s Gravity SUV picking up?

Apparently, demand for Lucid’s new Gravity SUV is picking up. A recent Automotive News report claimed that Lucid registered just nine Gravity models in its first six months on the market, but the company was quick to shut down the rumors.

Lucid’s communication boss, Nick Twork, told Electrek in an email that the report was “completely inaccurate,” adding “a quick review of social media postings from our customers shows that those numbers are simply not credible.”

According to Twork, Gravity deliveries are “well into the 3-digit range.” In the second half of the year, Lucid expects the SUV to account for the majority of deliveries and production.

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Winterhoff confirmed on Lucid’s second-quarter earnings call that production of the Gravity SUV was “beginning to ramp up” after resolving most of the supply chain issues that had limited output in the first half of the year.

Since it started offering test drives while adding Gravity models to its studios, Lucid’s interim CEO said the daily order rate for the electric SUV has nearly doubled.

During a new interview with Brew Markets on Tuesday, Winterhoff suggested that the Gravity is quickly attracting buyers. Lucid’s chief confirmed it will honor the $7,500 federal EV tax credit for Gravity buyers until the end of the year “because we have so many orders and we don’t want to tell order holders, you know what, you’re out of luck, we didn’t deliver in time.”

Winterhoff also said that Lucid expects a limited impact on sales from the loss of the credit due to its market position and pricing.

Lucid views the German luxury brands, including Mercedes, BMW, and Audi, as its primary competitors. Although it does view Tesla as a competitor, “we see ourselves a little bit of a notch higher than Tesla,” Winterhoff said, when comparing the interior, materials, and luxury.

Despite several luxury brands recently pulling back on their electrification plans, like Porsche, Lucid will remain a pure EV company and still believes electrification is the future.

Lucid’s vehicles currently start in the $70,000 to $80,000 range, but the company is working on launching its midsize platform in late 2026, which will bring the price down to around $50,000. The midsize platform will wear at least three “top hats,” including a crossover SUV, a more rugged variant, and a third, rumoured to be a midsize sedan aimed at the Tesla Model 3.

The Trump administration is seeking to acquire a 10% stake in Nevada’s upcoming lithium mine, operated by Lithium Americas (LAC).

Lithium Americas (LAC) has a flagship lithium mining project, Thacker Pass, located in Nevada.

With the Biden administration, the company had secured a $2.26 billion government loan to advance the project to production. However, since taking office, Trump has been attempting to claw back many loans related to the energy transition.

Last night, reports began to circulate about the Trump administration attempting to renegotiate the terms of the loans to include a 10% stake in the project.

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It sent LAC’s stock surging by as much as 80% in after-hours trading.

The reports forced the company to issue a comment. Lithium Americas confirmed being “in discussions” with both the Department of Energy, which issued the loan, and General Motors, which holds a 38% stake in the company and a right to buy the lithium from the mine, about drawing from the loan:

The Company is in discussions with the DOE and General Motors Holdings LLC (“GM”), its joint venture partner in the Thacker Pass lithium project (“Thacker Pass” or the “Project”), regarding first draw on the DOE Loan. The topics of these discussions include certain conditions precedent to draw on the DOE Loan and associated loan specifics, as well as incremental requests from the DOE for potential further conditions to first draw and/or potential amendments to the DOE Loan and associated transaction documents, including corresponding consideration. The Company continues to work with the DOE and GM regarding proposals for a mutually agreeable resolution.

This would be the latest example of the Trump administration taking direct stakes in companies and using “national security” as the reason.

Electrek’s Take

The Biden administration was attempting to establish a North American battery supply chain, but Trump has significantly hindered that effort over the last few months.

However, this is a good move.

The loan would have likely worked as well, but direct ownership is essentially how China operates, and it has worked out quite well for them. There’s a word for this, but Trump’s base hates it.

My main issue with how Trump is doing these market-moving announcements and leaks looks a hell of a lot like insider trading.

Even with this move on LAC, there was suspicious short-term option trading on the stock leading up to this.

The US is in its era of grifters.