Lucid Motors interim Chief Executive Marc Winterhoff called on U.S. lawmakers to preserve the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit for newer market entrants.
Winterhoff, who’s been replacing Peter Rawlinson as CEO since February, said that it would be unfair to withdraw the incentive while more established automakers had already benefited.
“It’s widely known we haven’t yet sold 200,000 EVs. But many others in the past have, and they all had that credit,” Winterhoff said in an interview with Automotive News.
The Newark-based EV maker delivered 125 vehicles in 2021, 4,369 in 2022, 6,001 in 2023 and 10,241 last year.
“And why would you now change it and basically make it very difficult for new players in the market?”
Lucid recently reiterated its full-year production target of approximately 20,000 electric vehicles but did not specify how many of those would be Gravity SUVs — its second model.
The remarks come as Republicans in Congress debate two competing budget proposals that could impact the availability of EV incentives.
The Senate version would eliminate the credit within 180 days for all automakers, while the House version proposes to extend it through 2026 for companies that have not yet sold 200,000 qualifying vehicles.
“We made that decision already years ago to actually vertically integrate extensively here in the United States,” Winterhoff said, noting Lucid’s domestic production strategy.
“I definitely am a proponent that [the EV credit] stays as much as it can and also for the cap of up to 200,000.”
Winterhoff acknowledged that incentives will eventually be phased out but argued that newer manufacturers still require support to scale.
“I mean that’s totally clear,” he said. “I really think that this is a normal process in adoption of new technologies. We’ve seen this in many, many other instances as well.”
Lucid’s Vice President of Engineering James Hawkins said last week the company is simplifying its EV designs by using fewer parts and more U.S. suppliers to strengthen its supply chain amid uncertainty from tariffs under the Trump administration.
“Doing more with less is efficiency,” Hawkins said at a keynote at the AutoTech 2025 event. “Doing more with less is at the heart of sustainability and at the heart of resilience.”
As EV exclusively reported on April 2, the carmaker has faced supply chain issues in ramping up production.
A source familiar with the matter told EV back then that April volumes would be “very small,” and that higher-volume output likely wouldn’t begin until “June or July.”
As of the time of writing, Lucid shares are trading 0.9% lower at $2.14.
