A drone flyover of Lucid Motors‘ Casa Grande, Arizona, factory on December 23 showed a record number of car haulers at the plant.
Lucid is expected to report fourth-quarter production and delivery figures in early January, with investors watching to see if the company met its 18,000-unit production target for 2025.
The latest factory flyover, published by YouTube channel LucidFlys which regularly documents activity at the facility showed 27 car haulers — the highest count the channel has recorded as production ramp up of the Lucid Gravity continues.
“There are 25 car haulers here today and after I left the factory driving home I saw two more pulling in so that makes 27,” the channel’s operator said.
“I have never seen this many car haulers at the Lucid factory before,” he added. “That actually implies if they fill them all enough to ship 200 cars.”
Production Estimates
The channel estimated Lucid’s current output is approaching 1,000 vehicles per week based on the shipping activity observed.
“But 200 cars a day, if they did that every day of the week, that would imply a production rate of a thousand cars a week,” the operator said.
“I would be surprised, I would be impressed if Lucid did have a thousand cars per week, but I’m expecting their production is probably closer to 800 cars a week right now as they’ve really ramped up the gravity production.”
The estimate aligns with comments from interim CEO Marc Winterhoff, who said earlier in December that Lucid is manufacturing 1,000 vehicles per week “in some weeks.”
The milestone represents a production record for the company, though Winterhoff did not disclose how many weeks Lucid has reached that threshold.
Supply Chain Recovery
The flyover was filmed days after Winterhoff said Lucid is “very confident” it has resolved supply chain issues that hampered Gravity production this year.
The company faced three consecutive disruptions: a magnet shortage in the second quarter that forced a temporary shift from Grand Touring trims for North America to Touring trims for Saudi Arabia, a fire at the company’s largest aluminum supplier, and an industry-wide chip shortage.
In a previous interview with Bloomberg, Winterhoff said the company was on track to hit its production guidance of 18,000 units for 2025.
Inventory Levels
The flyover showed staging lots filled with vehicles, though inventory levels appeared similar to early December — when the previous flyover was filmed.
“The number of cars in the staging lots right now is about the same as it was during my last flyover at the beginning of December,” the operator said.
Comparing footage from December 1, the channel noted: “I’m going to say there’s kind of similar number of cars, maybe slightly less, but overall I’m going to say that it’s a pretty similar number of cars.”
Model Mix
The footage showed a shift toward Gravity SUVs in the staging areas.
“I’d say the majority of these cars are Gravity versus the Air,” the operator said. “And it really looks to me like with the number of cars being shipped that production has ramped quite nicely on Gravity.”
The channel noted that Gravity models dominated the eastern staging lots, with slightly more Air sedans visible in the western lots.
“You can see on the west lots, like we’ve seen before, there tends to be a few more air sedans than on the east lots, but still the majority of these cars are Gravity,” the operator said.
Shipping Timeline
Despite the high shipping activity, most vehicles loaded onto haulers on December 23 are unlikely to reach customers before year-end, according to the Lucid customer.
“For those 27 car haulers that were here today, those cars are unlikely to end up in customer hands before the end of the year,” the operator said.
“I think it takes generally about two weeks for a car to ship if everything goes well and then end up in a customer’s driveway. I think realistically three or four weeks is more what to expect if any problems are encountered during pre-delivery inspection,” he added.
The Saudi-backed EV maker sold 980 vehicles in the US in November, up from 935 units in October and 910 in September, according to Motor Intelligence estimates released earlier this month.
