Lucid rejected a report that its board was weighing bankruptcy or a take-private deal, telling EV in an emailed statement on Tuesday that the account was “completely false” and that the company has enough cash to operate “well into next year.”
The statement, from Chief Communications Officer Nick Twork, was sent to EV by email and posted on X, and was the company’s first formal response to an EV exclusive that sent the electric-vehicle maker’s shares crashing more than 50% and triggered a series of trading halts.
Lucid shares were trading 23% lower as of publication time, recovering from the 51% drop registered earlier in the session.
Twork said Lucid has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations “well into next year,” pointing to its most recent quarterly filings, and that it has not formed any special board committee to explore the scenarios described in the report.
What the Company Said
Twork’s statement disputed the substance of the report while reaffirming the company’s turnaround plan.
He said Lucid‘s focus is on improving execution, strengthening operations and positioning the company to realize the full potential of its technology and products, and that restructuring adviser AlixPartners is assisting with that work and nothing else.
In doing so, the company confirmed for the first time on the record that it has retained AlixPartners, a fact that had until Tuesday rested on outside reporting rather than any acknowledgement from Lucid.
The engagement was first reported last week by CarBuzz, confirmed on Tuesday by the two people who spoke to EV, and now acknowledged by the company itself, leaving the fact of the relationship no longer in dispute even as its scope is contested.
The adviser has not recommended bankruptcy to management or the board, Twork said, addressing the element of the coverage that had most alarmed investors.
The company added that it undertakes no duty to update its comments on the matter, a formulation that signals it does not intend to engage further.
What EV Reported
EV‘s report, published earlier on Tuesday and attributed to two people familiar with the matter, said AlixPartners had been asked to deliver findings to Lucid‘s board before its next meeting.
The options under review, the sources said, included taking the company private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with one person close to the matter stressing that neither was a decision the board had taken.
The same report said the adviser’s early recommendations were operational, urging the board to concentrate on the Gravity SUV, temporarily hold back the Air and pause European expansion, rather than pursue either of the starker options.
EV stands by its reporting.
Where the Accounts Differ
The company’s rebuttal and the original report diverge on some points while leaving others unaddressed.
Twork denied two specific things, that AlixPartners had recommended bankruptcy and that a special board committee had been formed to weigh the scenarios, neither of which sources told EV.
EV reported that bankruptcy and a take-private were among options the adviser had been asked to weigh, and that no decision had been made, a characterization distinct from a formal recommendation or a dedicated committee.
The company did not directly address whether AlixPartners had been asked to evaluate a take-private or a Chapter 11 filing as scenarios, focusing instead on denying a recommendation and a committee.
On liquidity, the company’s position and the reporting are not in conflict, since EV’s account described the strategic review against the backdrop of the company’s cash position rather than asserting an imminent cash shortfall.
Lucid‘s most recent filings showed it ended 2025 with about $4.6 billion in total liquidity, and the company drew a further $800 million from a Saudi-backed credit line in early July, the figures Twork pointed to in saying its cash runs well into next year.
The disagreement, then, centers less on how much cash the company has than on what its restructuring adviser has been asked to consider, and whether options as severe as a Chapter 11 filing were ever on the table as scenarios.
The Market Reaction
The dispute played out against one of the sharpest single-session declines in the company’s history.
Lucid shares were halted four times for volatility on Tuesday, falling from a $5.51 open to as low as $2.37, a drop of more than 50% that cut the company’s market value to little more than $1 billion before a partial rebound.
The scale of the reaction underscored how sensitive investors have become to any suggestion of insolvency at a company that has burned cash heavily through its ramp.
Twork’s emphasis on liquidity and on the limits of AlixPartners’ mandate appeared aimed at arresting that slide by rebutting the specific fear the market had seized on.
The statement did not immediately stem the volatility, however, as the shares were halted a fourth time at about 14:03 New York time, after Twork had issued it, having pared their loss to about 41.7% at $3.21 from the session’s low.
By then more than 85 million shares had traded, close to five times the stock’s three-month daily average, a sign of how heavily the session’s swings had drawn in buyers and sellers alike.
As of publication time, over 100 million shares had changed hands.
The Backdrop
The exchange caps months of turmoil at the company under new leadership.
Lucid ended 2025 with $997.8 million in cash and about $4.6 billion in total liquidity, and on July 6 it drew $800 million from a term loan provided by an affiliate of its Saudi backer, its second such draw this year.
Chief Executive Silvio Napoli, who took over on June 1, has cut about 18% of the US workforce, suspended the company’s 2026 production guidance and replaced most of his senior team in what an insider described as the deepest overhaul in the company’s history.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund holds a majority of Lucid and has committed more than $9 billion since 2018, support the company has leaned on repeatedly as its losses mounted.
The company is due to report first-half results on August 4, the first full financial update under Napoli and the next occasion for management to address the questions the report and its own denial have raised.
Lucid’s Full Statement to EV
The following is the complete statement sent to EV by Nick Twork, Lucid’s Chief Communications Officer, on Tuesday.
“The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is on improving execution, strengthening operations, and positioning Lucid to realize the full potential of its technology, products, and innovation. AlixPartners is assisting us in that and nothing else and has not recommended bankruptcy to management or the Board. We undertake no duty to update our comments on this matter.”
— Nick Twork, Chief Communications Officer, Lucid
