Lucid‘s Midsize vehicle program has entered the final stage of prototyping, including homologation and crash testing, and the company will give the dates for its reveal and start of production in the first quarter of 2027, the brand’s chief Silvio Napoli said on Monday.
“Today, we are on track to start production in the second half of 2027,” Napoli said in his opening remarks on the EV maker’s third-quarter earnings call. “We expect to provide more details on the timing of the reveal and start of production in Q1.”
The Cosmos was initially expected to launch in “late 2026,” before being delayed to the second half of next year.
The Midsize platform is the basis for three lower-priced models, the first of which is the Cosmos crossover. It is one of the four priorities Napoli set when he launched an operational reset in August, and Lucid now measures its cash runway against it.
Napoli also said the Saudi plant that will build the vehicle remains on schedule “despite the regional challenges,” and that Lucid is preparing for other scenarios.
“During Q3, midsize continued moving closer to industrialization and product launch,” Napoli said. “The final stage of prototyping is underway, including homologation and crash testing.”
Homologation is the process of certifying that a vehicle meets the safety and emissions rules of each market where it will be sold.
Pilot Build in Arizona
Pilot production in Arizona “is entering its final build phase,” Napoli said, and includes the transfer of know-how to AMP-2, the plant in Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Economic City where the vehicle will be made.
Lucid’s presentation said tooling trials are “scheduled to commence at AMP-2 as planned” and described the testing cycle as “progressing with positive results.”
Employees of Lucid’s Saudi operations arrived at the Arizona factory for training in August, and the first cohort of trainees from Saudi Arabia’s National Automotive and Vehicles Academy graduated at AMP-2 in October.
Saudi Plant Timeline ‘Unchanged’
“Over the last few months, AMP-2 remained on track despite the regional challenges,” Napoli said.
“Given the rapidly evolving situation in the region, our teams are constantly reevaluating potential scenarios and putting additional mitigations in place,” he said. “At this stage, our timeline is unchanged.”
He did not describe the scenarios or the mitigations in the remarks. The risk factors in Lucid’s results statement cite “the ongoing military operations in the Gulf region and the broader Middle East, the escalating hostilities affecting Saudi Arabia, and the potential further escalation or broadening of such conflicts.”
“We continue to expect AMP-2 to be ready for inauguration in the earlier part of 2027 and for midsize production in the second half of 2027,” Napoli said.
He gave a status report by shop. “Stamping line installation is complete and commissioning is underway,” he said. “Body shop installation is accelerating, drive unit installation is progressing, and paint is now in finalization with equipment continuing to arrive on site.”
“Process validation, trial builds, and production and know-how transfer are in full swing,” he said. “We are hiring and training the team and have received more than 10,000 applications.”
The plant “has entered the final stages of industrialization and commissioning,” Lucid said in its results statement. Its presentation, which carries photographs dated June 28 and October 4, says the site’s permanent power feed is connected and road infrastructure is progressing.
Napoli pushed back in August on the idea of building the Cosmos at the Arizona plant.
A Year Later
The second-half 2027 date is the one Napoli set on August 4, when he delayed the Cosmos from late 2026. He said then that “midsize will launch only when every process and quality requirement have been met.”
Monday’s commitment to name dates in the first quarter is new. Lucid has not said when the vehicle will be shown in production form, and its presentation described the second half of 2027 as a “production ramp.”
The program has lost its original leader. Andreas Redtenbacher, who ran the Midsize platform from its beginning, left Lucid in September, he said in October.
Camouflaged prototypes have been photographed on public roads since the summer, including on California’s Highway 101 in October, and Lucid showed brief footage of the vehicle in a brand film on November 5.
Europe as a Launch Market
“In parallel, we’re expanding our network in Europe,” Napoli said, calling it a “strategic market” for the new platform.
The remark follows a retrenchment earlier in the year. Lucid’s board decided to slow the company’s push into new European markets and cut regional jobs, EV reported in July, after entries into Spain and Austria were pushed to 2027.
As of Monday, Lucid has not confirmed or denied the delay.
Since then, Lucid has added partners in the markets it already serves. It named a retail and service partner for the Düsseldorf region with a site due to open in January 2027, and a service partner in eastern Germany from December.
It plans to open orders and its first three locations in France in the first quarter of 2027. The brand made its Paris Auto Show debut last month.
Europe is a small part of the business today. Revenue from Lucid’s international markets outside North America and the Middle East was $5.8 million in the third quarter, or 1.7% of the total, its quarterly filing showed.
The platform also underpins Lucid’s European robotaxi plan. Its partnership with ride-hailing company Bolt has “an initial goal of deploying at least 25,000 vehicles” based on the Midsize platform, and Bolt has said the program will begin in Madrid in 2027.
What It Costs
Lucid ended September with $2.0 billion of liquidity and secured a $1.75 billion increase to its loan from an affiliate of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. It expects the combined $3.75 billion “to fund operations and key investments into Q4 2027, bridging the period through Midsize start of production.”
About 40% of the $4.0 billion of cash Lucid has used this year, or $1.5 billion, went to what it calls strategic projects, which are AMP-2, Midsize, the robotaxi and restructuring. That share is “set to reduce with Midsize launch and AMP-2 completion,” the presentation said.
Lucid’s long-lived assets in Saudi Arabia rose to $1.12 billion at the end of September from $658.6 million at the end of 2025.
“Our Q3 results provide early evidence that our transformation is taking effect,” Napoli said.
Lucid shares closed up 9.4% at $3.60 on Monday, before the results were published. The stock closed at a record low of $2.98 on November 5.
