Lucid cuts production forecast again, shares tumble

Lucid Group (LCID) shares crashed in after hours trading on on Wednesday following the release of the electric vehicle (EV) maker’s second quarter report.

The company cut its production outlook for 2022 for the second time in as many quarters, now forecasting it will make 6,000-7,000 cars this year, down from its prior guidance of 12,000-14,000.

At the beginning of the year, the company had expected it would make up to 20,000 cars this year.

“Our revised production guidance reflects the extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges we encountered,” said Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s CEO and CTO. “We’ve identified the primary bottlenecks, and we are taking appropriate measures – bringing our logistics operations in-house, adding key hires to the executive team, and restructuring our logistics and manufacturing organization.

Lucid delivered 679 vehicles in the second quarter and has produced 1,405 vehicles so far this year.

Revenue in the second quarter totaled $97.3 million, less than the $147.05 million Wall Street analysts had expected. The company lost an adjusted $0.33 per share, narrower than the $0.34 loss analysts had been expecting.

Shares were down as much as 11% in after hours trading.

As for the Lucid Air, the company’s only current model in production, Lucid disclosed 37,000 reservations for the all-electric sedan, up from the 30,000 it reported last quarter. This figure does not include the 100,000 vehicles ordered by the government of Saudi Arabia, which will be delivered over the next ten years.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund remains the compnay’s biggest investor in Lucid with a 62% stake. The partnership goes beyond a financial one; however, as earlier this year Lucid announced it would be building a factory in Saudi Arabia, with a planned annual capacity of 155,000 EVs a year.

Lucid’s current factory located in Casa Grande, Arizona. aims for an annual production capacity of 30,000 EVs a year. That facility will eventually build the Lucid Gravity SUV, which is slated to begin production in the first half of 2024.

More to come…