Model new Lucid electrical automobiles sit parked in entrance of a Lucid Studio showroom in San Francisco on Could 24, 2024.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Photographs
Electrical car maker Lucid Group on Tuesday mentioned CEO Peter Rawlinson has stepped down as the corporate expects to greater than double car manufacturing this yr to twenty,000 items.
Lucid mentioned Marc Winterhoff, the corporate’s chief working officer, has taken over as interim CEO. Rawlinson will function a “strategic technical advisor to the chairman of the board, stepping apart from his prior roles,” the corporate mentioned.
Winterhoff informed CNBC on Tuesday that it was Rawlinson’s choice to resign as of Friday, nonetheless he declined to elaborate on any further particulars.
“It was Peter’s choice after 12 years of, as an instance, every day grind or every day actions and bringing the corporate the place it’s immediately … that it’s time to step apart and move the baton,” mentioned Winterhoff, who joined Lucid from Roland Berger in December 2023.
In an announcement posted Tuesday on LinkedIn, Rawlinson mentioned he determined it was “lastly the best time” to step down after “efficiently” launching the corporate’s second product, a three-row SUV referred to as the Gravity. He didn’t elaborate additional on the choice within the prolonged publish.
Rawlinson’s departure is sudden. As one of many firm’s largest shareholders, Rawlinson, who additionally served as chief expertise officer, has routinely touted his ardour and stake within the automaker. He took Lucid public by means of a reverse merger with a particular function acquisition firm, or SPAC, in July 2021.
CEO Peter Rawlinson poses on the Lucid Motors plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, U.S. September 28, 2021.
Caitlin O’Hara | Reuters
“My mission and my dedication is steadfast. I’ve not bought a single rattling share of this inventory, besides what was vital for tax functions,” Rawlinson mentioned in the course of the firm’s third-quarter name in November. “So, my promise is to proceed to work tirelessly day and evening to drive that long-term shareholder worth.”
Lucid’s board has initiated a search to determine a brand new CEO, the corporate mentioned.
The CEO change and manufacturing goal have been introduced together with the automaker’s fourth-quarter monetary outcomes. For the interval ended Dec. 31, the corporate reported a web loss attributable to frequent stockholders of $636.9 million, or a lack of 22 cents per share, on income of $234.5 million.
Analysts surveyed by LSEG anticipated a lack of 25 cents per share on income of $214 million.
Throughout the identical interval final yr, Lucid reported a web loss attributable to frequent stockholders of $653.8 million, or a lack of 29 cents per share, on income of $157.2 million.
The manufacturing goal for 2025 introduced Tuesday is in contrast with manufacturing of 9,029 autos and deliveries of 10,241 reported for 2024.
Lucid Gravity Grand Touring SUV (left) and Lucid Air sedan EVs
Lucid
Winterhoff mentioned manufacturing of the Gravity SUV will step by step construct in the course of the yr. He declined to invest on what share of the 20,000-unit manufacturing goal the car would signify.
Shares of Lucid have been about 8% greater throughout afterhours buying and selling Tuesday.
As of market shut, shares of the corporate have been down about 13% this yr amid slower-than-expected adoption of all-electric autos and uncertainty about federal help for EVs beneath the Trump administration. The inventory declined by roughly 28% final yr.
Lucid is essentially backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund. Its first product was the Air sedan, which it started delivering in late 2021.
