Electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors has started a second production shift at its main plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, a company spokesperson confirmed when asked by EV on Friday.
The move is expected to significantly increase output at the facility as the California-based EV maker works to meet its full-year production guidance.
Lucid produced 9,966 vehicles in the first nine months of the year, reaching 55.4% of its annual target of between 18,000 and 20,000 units.
To hit that goal, it will need to build between 8,034 and 10,034 vehicles in the fourth quarter alone — a challenging target with about one quarter of the final quarter now gone.
The company does not disclose monthly production or delivery figures, reporting them only on a quarterly basis, so fourth-quarter data will only be available in early January.
Lucid manufactured 7,180 EVs in 2022, 8,428 in 2023 and 9,029 in 2024.
The plan to start the second shift had been confirmed Thursday by Nick Twork, Lucid’s Head of Global Communications.
The executive had been asked if the additional shift was still being considered after the Irvine-headquartered brand Rivian announced a new round of layoffs.
Lucid trimmed its production outlook in early August, adding a lower-end target to the previous “approximately 20,000 units” guidance.
The company has also been expanding its manufacturing team at AMP-1, as the Arizona facility is internally known.
As EV reported last week, Lucid had 85 open positions listed for the site’s manufacturing division.
The Casa Grande plant currently builds the Air luxury sedan and began producing the Gravity SUV earlier this year.
It also manufactures semi-knockdown (SKD) kits for export to Saudi Arabia, where final assembly takes place at Lucid’s AMP-2 plant in King Abdullah Economic City.
Lucid produced a record 3,891 Air and Gravity vehicles in the third quarter.
The company will report third-quarter earnings on November 5, when it’s expected to provide updates on potential supply-chain disruptions from renewed US-China trade tensions and on the impact of the removed $7,500 federal EV tax credit on demand.
