Lucid Motors Missed Expectations in the Third Quarter

Lucid Motors (LCID) announced its third-quarter results on Wednesday. Despite increasing sales, the company reported widening losses with results falling short of expectations. The production of the midsize vehicle, expected to be launched by the end of 2026, is still progressing as planned.

Third-quarter revenue was reported to be $336.6 million, according to the Bloomberg consensus. Although this figure represents a 68% increase year-over-year, it fell short of expectations of $367.54 million.

The company reported a loss that was higher than expected; the adjusted loss per share was $2.65, while the expected loss was $2.05. The adjusted EBITDA loss was recorded at $717.7 million, surpassing the expected $614.8 million.

Lucid shares fell in pre-market trading but gained value by Thursday noon. The free cash flow loss in the third quarter was $955.5 million, exceeding last year’s loss of $622.5 million.

In this context, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) raised its financing support to $2 billion, strengthening the company's total liquidity to $5.5 billion as of the end of the quarter.

Lucid's CFO Taoufiq Boussaid stated, "We continue to focus on cost management. Our strong liquidity position and additional liquidity from PIF supports both our short-term operations and our medium-term strategy."

Lucid delivered 4,078 vehicles in the third quarter, which signifies a 47% increase compared to the previous year, while production reached 3,891 vehicles, reflecting a 116% increase from the same period last year. Additionally, there were reports of over 1,000 additional vehicles built for final assembly in Saudi Arabia.

As of the third quarter, Lucid has produced a total of 9,966 vehicles and delivered 10,496. Although the company did not disclose the delivery figures for its newest product, the Gravity SUV, it is estimated that there is a waiting list valued at $80,000 for this model.

Lucid updated its production forecasts, expecting to produce approximately 18,000 vehicles in 2025. Previously, the company had forecast production between 18,000 and 20,000 vehicles.

CEO Mark Winterhoff mentioned in an interview in August, "We are not where we want to be with Gravity at this time of year." However, the company announced that it made significant progress in Gravity production during the third quarter and added a second shift at its Arizona production facility.

The company announced a series of major operational leadership changes on Wednesday, stating that the new executives would expedite the production of Gravity and prepare for the launch of the upcoming midsize vehicle platform, which is scheduled to be released by the end of 2026.

Throughout the quarter, Lucid announced a series of significant technology partnerships. At the end of October, it announced a collaboration with Nvidia to develop Level 4 autonomous driving technology for future Lucid vehicles. In July, Lucid made an agreement with Uber to provide robotaxi services, making Lucid electric vehicles summonable via the Uber platform. These robotaxis will operate with the Level 4 driving software of autonomous technology firm Nuro, aiming to deploy over 20,000 Lucid electric vehicles within the next six years.

Accelerating the mentioned midsize platform is critical for Lucid’s long-term survival. The scalable production and profitability of this vehicle will be a determining factor for the company's future success.