Lucid’s (LCID) stock is falling after its CEO stepped down, but here’s the good news
Lucid (LCID) CEO Peter Rawlinson is passing the baton just as the EV maker enters a critical growth phase. After over a decade at the helm, Rawlinson said it’s the right time to step aside. Following the sudden announcement, Lucid’s stock fell over 12% on Wednesday. Despite this, Lucid expects 2025 will still be one of its biggest so far.
Rawlinson will become a strategic technical advisor to the chairman of the board with Marc Winteroff, Lucid’s chief operating officer, serving as interim CEO.
“Now that we have successfully launched the Lucid Gravity, I have decided it is finally the right time for me to step aside from my roles at Lucid,” Rawlinson, who led the company for the past 12 years, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The sudden departure comes after Lucid began delivering its first electric SUV, the Gravity, in December. With the Gravity successfully launched, Rawlinson said it’s “finally the right time for me to step aside.”
Is it the right time? Lucid is entering an inflection point as it ramps up Gravity output this year. Like other EV startups including Rivian (RIVN), and really any car maker right now, Lucid is aggressively cutting costs to boost profits.
Lucid still has big plans for 2025. The company expects to produce 20,000 vehicles this year, more than double the roughly 9,000 it built in 2024.
Accelerating growth in 2025
Although no delivery or sales guidance was offered, the company said it will “continue to prudently manage and adjust production to meet sales and delivery needs” in 2025.
After four consecutive record quarters, Lucid delivered 10,241 vehicles last year, up 70% (6,001) from the year prior. In the final three months of 2024, Lucid delivered nearly 3,100 alone.
| Q4 2022 | Q1 2023 | Q2 2023 | Q3 2023 | Full-year 2023 | Q4 2023 | Q1 2024 | Q2 2024 | Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Full-year 2024 | |
| Lucid EV deliveries by quarter | 1,932 | 1,406 | 1,404 | 1,457 | 6,001 | 1,734 | 1,967 | 2,394 | 2,781 | 3,099 | 10,241 |
With its electric SUV hitting the market, Lucid has high hopes for 2025. In the coming weeks, Winterhoff explained on the company’s earnings call that Lucid expects “virtually all of our studios to have showroom and test drive” Gravity models.
After opening in November, orders for the Gravity Grand Touring in November have “exceeded expectations.” Although no specific numbers were mentioned, Winteroff said Gravity orders “are exceeding the Air Grand Touring by far” in the US. The electric SUV is now available in Canada and Saudi Arabia.
According to Lucid, 75% of Gravity orders are new to the brand. And this is with “very limited marketing” which Lucid will ramp up throughout the year.
Although others, like Ford, cancelled plans for a three-row electric SUV, Lucid believes its technology gives it an advantage.
Winteroff explained on the call that “others are moving away from larger 3-row SUVs because it’s challenging to create an SUV with lots of space without sacrificing range or having a large battery pack,” making it less profitable and, therefore, less attractive to build.
Lucid stock slips following CEO departure, Q4 earnings
Lucid reported Q4 revenue of $234.5 million, up 50% from the year prior. The company also narrowed operating losses to $732.95 million despite the higher output in the quarter.
The company ended 2024 with around $6.13 billion in liquidity, which Lucid said is enough to fund it through the second half of 2026, when it plans to launch its first midsize EV.
Lucid confirmed plans to launch three midsize vehicles, with the first set to start production in late 2026. Rawlinson said earlier this month that when the midsize EVs arrive, it will be “finally when we compete directly with Tesla.”
The company confirmed it has signed off on the advanced engineering phase of two of the midsize models, which are expected to be a Tesla-rivalling electric sedan and SUV.
Last year, Rawlinson boasted that the new midsize models are aimed “right in the heart of Tesla Model 3, Model Y territory” with starting prices around $50,000.
With some of the most advanced EV powertrain tech, Lucid has another significant opportunity over the next few years.
Lucid is expanding its tech license business. After securing a tech partnership with Aston Martin in 2023 to supply its proprietary “Wunderbox” powertrain tech, Rawlinson recently hinted the company was in talks with several automakers over similar deals.
Winterhoff confirmed on the call that Lucid is “expecting deals to close soon,” but didn’t offer any additional details.
The 2025 Lucid Air is already considered the “world’s most efficient car” with a record 5 miles/kWh. However, the new midsize models will be powered by Lucid’s Atlas powertrain, which Rawlinson claimed is “an absolute breakthrough” in terms of efficiency and cost reduction.
Despite the upbeat outlook, Lucid’s stock fell over 12% on Wednesday following the CEO transition. Lucid shares are down 25% over the past year and around 65% since 2023.
Even with the CEO transition, Lucid has big ambitions over the next few years. What are your thoughts on the shakeup? Let us know in the comments.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
EV charging veteran ChargePoint has unveiled its new charger product architecture, which is described as a “generational leap in AC Level 2 charging.” The new ChargePoint technology designed for consumers in North America and Europe will enable vehicle-to-everything (V2X) capabilities and the ability to charge your EV in as quickly as four hours.
ChargePoint is not only a seasoned contributor to EV infrastructure but has established itself as an innovative leader in the growing segment. In recent years, it has expanded and implemented new technologies to help simplify the overall process for its customers. In 2024, the network reached one million global charging ports and has added exciting features to support those stations.
Last summer, the network introduced a new “Omni Port,” combining multiple charging plugs into one port. It ensures EV drivers of nearly any make and model can charge at any ChargePoint space. The company also began implementing AI to bolster dependability within its charging network by identifying issues more quickly, improving uptime, and thus delivering better charging network reliability.
As we’ve pointed out, ChargePoint continues to utilize its resources to develop and implement innovative solutions to genuine problems many EV drivers face regularly, such as vandalism and theft. We’ve also seen ChargePoint implement new charger technology to make the process more affordable for fleets.
Today, ChargePoint has introduced a new charger architecture that promises to bring advanced features and higher charging rates to all its customers across residential, commercial, and fleet applications.
ChargePoint unveils maximum speed V2X charger tech
This morning, ChargePoint unveiled its next generation of EV charger architecture, complete with bidirectional capabilities and speeds up to double those of most current AC Level 2 chargers.
As mentioned above, this new architecture will serve as the backbone of new ChargePoint chargers across all segments, including residential, commercial, and fleet customers. Hossein Kazemi, chief technical officer of hardware at ChargePoint, elaborated:
ChargePoint’s next generation of EV chargers will be revolutionary, not evolutionary. The architecture underpinning them enables highly anticipated technologies which will deliver a significantly better experience for station owners and the EV drivers who charge with them.
The new ChargePoint chargers will feature V2X capabilities, enabling residential and commercial customers to use EVs to power homes and buildings with the opportunity to send excess energy back to the local grid. Dynamic load balancing can automatically boost charging speeds when power is not required at other parts of the connected building structure, enabling efficiency and faster recharge rates.
ChargePoint shared that its new charger architecture can achieve the fastest possible speed for AC current (80 amps/19.2 kW), charging the average EV from 0 to 100% in just four hours. That’s nearly double the current AC Level 2 standard (no pun intended).
Other features include smart home capabilities where residential or commercial owners can implement the charger within a more extensive energy storage system, including solar panels, power banks, and smart energy management systems. The new architecture also enables series-wiring capabilities, meaning fleet depots, multi-unit dwellings, or even residential homes with multiple EVs can maximize charging rates without upgrading their wiring configuration or energy service plan.
These new chargers will also feature ChargePoint’s Omni Port technology, enabling a wider range of compatibility across all EV makes and models. According to ChargePoint, this new architecture complies with MID and Eichrecht regulations in Europe and ENERGY STAR in the US.
The first charger models on the platform are expected to hit Europe this summer followed by North
America by the end of 2025.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Environment
Tanking oil prices could more than double Saudi Arabia’s deficit to $75 billion and threaten spending plans: Goldman Sachs economist
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Johnnygreig | E+ | Getty Images
Crashing oil prices triggered by waning demand, global trade war fears and growing crude supply could more than double Saudi Arabia’s budget deficit, a Goldman Sachs economist warned.
The bank’s outlook spotlighted the pressure on the kingdom to make changes to its mammoth spending plans and fiscal measures.
“The deficits on the fiscal side that we’re likely to see in the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries, especially big countries like Saudi Arabia, are going to be pretty significant,” Farouk Soussa, Middle East and North Africa economist at Goldman Sachs, told CNBC’s Access Middle East on Wednesday.
Spending by the kingdom has ballooned due to Vision 2030, a sweeping campaign to transform the Saudi economy and diversify its revenue streams away from hydrocarbons. A centerpiece of the project is Neom, an as-yet sparsely populated mega-region in the desert roughly the size of Massachusetts.
Plans for Neom include hyper-futuristic developments that altogether have been estimated to cost as much as $1.5 trillion. The kingdom is also hosting the 2034 World Cup and the 2030 World Expo, both infamously costly endeavors.
Digital render of NEOM’s The Line project in Saudi Arabia
The Line, NEOM
Saudi Arabia needs oil at more than $90 a barrel to balance its budget, the International Monetary Fund estimates. Goldman Sachs this week lowered its year-end 2025 oil price forecast to $62 a barrel for Brent crude, down from a previous forecast of $69 — a figure that the bank’s economists say could more than double Saudi Arabia’s 2024 budget deficit of $30.8 billion.
“In Saudi Arabia, we estimate that we’re probably going to see the deficit go up from around $30 to $35 billion to around $70 to $75 billion, if oil prices stayed around $62 this year,” Soussa said.
“That means more borrowing, probably means more cutbacks on expenditure, it probably means more selling of assets, all of the above, and this is going to have an impact both on domestic financial conditions and potentially even international.”
Financing that level of deficit in international markets “is going to be challenging” given the shakiness of international markets right now, he added, and likely means Riyadh will need to look at other options to bridge their funding gap.
The kingdom still has significant headroom to borrow; their debt-to-GDP ratio as of December 2024 is just under 30%. In comparison, the U.S. and France’s debt-to-GDP ratios of 124% and 110.6%, respectively. But $75 billion in debt issuance would be difficult for the market to absorb, Soussa noted.
“That debt to GDP ratio, while comforting, doesn’t mean that the Saudis can issue as much debt as they like … they do have to look at other remedies,” he said, adding that those remedies include cutting back on capital expenditure, raising taxes, or selling more of their domestic assets — like state-owned companies Saudi Aramco and Sabic. Several Neom projects may end up on the chopping block, regional economists predict.
Saudi Arabia has an A/A-1 credit rating with a positive outlook from S&P Global Ratings and an A+ rating with a stable outlook from Fitch. That combined with high foreign currency reserves — $410.2 billion as of January, according to CEIC data — puts the kingdom in a comfortable place to manage a deficit.
The kingdom has also rolled out a series of reforms to boost and de-risk foreign investment and diversify revenue streams, which S&P Global said in September “will continue to improve Saudi Arabia’s economic resilience and wealth.”
“So the Saudis have lots of options, the mix of all of these is very difficult to pre-judge, but certainly we’re not looking at some sort of crisis,” Soussa said. “It’s just a question of which options they go for in order to deal with the challenges that they’re facing.”
Global benchmark Brent crude was trading at $63.58 per barrel on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in London, down roughly 14% year-to-date.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway
Comments