Last week, electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors announced plans to raise $1.67 billion through a public offering of over 262 million shares, driving its share price sharply lower.
On Monday, Lucid shares closed at $2.55, 7 cents above their lowest point since June and about 11% higher than their all-time low of $2.29.
Speaking to CNBC, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson commented on the market reaction saying the capital raise “should have come as zero surprise to anyone” and affirming that the new funds will secure the company’s financial runway until 2026.
“We’d signaled that we had a cash runway to Q4 next year. As a Nasdaq company, we have to avoid a going concern. And a going concern is issued within 12 months of your financial runway. So, it should have been no surprise to anybody,” Rawlinson told CNBC.
“This is exactly as expected. It is exactly to the playbook. It should have come as zero surprise to anyone. And why did I choose this moment? Because I didn’t want to string it out to the end, because I didn’t have to,” he added.
2026 will mark the year that EV maker will be launching a new midsize platform. The first model of that platform will be a midsize SUV with target production is in late 2026 with a price “around $48,000”.
2026 will mark the year that the EV maker launches a new midsize platform. The first model from this platform will be a midsize SUV, with production targeted for late 2026 and a price of “around $48,000” to compete with the upcoming revamped version of the Tesla Model Y.
In early September, during its annual Technology and Manufacturing Day, Lucid unveiled the first teaser image of the model.
Meanwhile, Lucid is preparing to start mass production of its second model Gravity late this year.
Lucid said last week it expects third-quarter revenue to range between $199 million and $200 million, slightly below the $200.6 million reported in the second quarter, despite having delivered an additional 387 vehicles between July and September.
Ayar Third Investment Company, an affiliate of Lucid’s biggest shareholder PIF (Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund) will purchase 374,717,927 shares of common stock from Lucid in a private placement concurrent with the public offering.
