Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
On February 25, the U.S. carmaker Lucid Motors announced that Peter Rawlinson was stepping down as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer with immediate effect.
Despite a long list of high-level executive departures over the past 18 months, sluggish progress in establishing brand recognition in North America and Europe, and a modest 15% year-on-year sales growth in the U.S. in 2024, the decision to remove Rawlinson still took Wall Street analysts by surprise.
Adding to the uncertainty, Rawlinson, who had served as CEO since April 2019, was absent from the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, which raised questions about the abrupt nature of his departure.
The EV maker said Rawlinson would transition to the role of Strategic Technical Advisor to the Chairman of the Board (with a monthly salary of $120,000 among other benefits), while Winterhoff, who had been serving as Chief Operating Officer (COO), would take over as interim CEO.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which holds a 58.4% controlling stake in Lucid, have been gaining an increasing relevance in the company’s strategy as its position grows.
Two sources familiar with the matter told EV on Thursday that Lucid’s Chairman of the Board, Turqi Alnowaiser, has “forced out” Rawlinson and selected Winterhoff as interim chief.
Turqi Alnowaiser became Chairman of our Board nearly two years ago, in April 2023, after being a member since 2019. According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr. Alnowaiser is Head of International Investments at the PIF since October 2016.
Another source, who asked to not be identified, said that Winterhoff’s background at the consulting firm Roland Berger was already involving Lucid as he was overseeing the EV maker’s account.
The German executive played a key role in defining the company’s long-term sales strategy. The strategy projected that Lucid would sell 60,000 Air sedans and 40,000 Gravity SUVs annually. Internal discussions also included ambitious sales targets ranging from 150,000 to as high as 500,000 units annually for future mid-sized models, according to the same source.
Lucid has repeatedly lowered its annual vehicle production targets in recent years after initially setting overly ambitious goals.
In early 2022, the company slashed its production forecast to 12,000–14,000 vehicles, down from an earlier target of 20,000. It ended up producing 7,180 vehicles after several other guidance cuts throughout the year.
In 2023, Lucid began the year expecting to produce 10,000–14,000 cars but later reduced that range to 10,000. By the end of the year, executives further cut the forecast to 8,000–8,500 vehicles, with actual production totaling 8,428.
Despite aggressive price cuts and purchase incentives, Lucid has struggled with weak demand. If in the first half of 2022, the company’s average selling price stood at above $150,000, the figure halved in the final quarter of 2024 to about $76,000.
The company reported a $2.7 billion net loss for 2024 and ended the year with $1.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Its shares have fallen over 28% year to date, hovering near all-time lows.
Rawlinson was not the only executive leaving the EV maker in February. The company has silently updated its official website replacing its senior VP of Operations Steven David with Adrian Price.
As reported earlier this week, Price joined Lucid last month after spending nearly three decades at Ford Motor Company. Since October 2023, the company has seen eleven high-level exits.
Late last year, Vice President of Marketing and Communications Andrea Soriani left Lucid to rejoin Maserati as General Manager for North America. In December, Alexander Lutz, who had been managing director for Lucid’s European operations, also departed, marking the ninth senior executive exit in 14 months.
As of the time of writing, Lucid shares are trading 0.7% lower at $2.15.
