Lucid Motors’ efforts to expand its technology licensing business have slowed in recent months as global automakers face tariff-related uncertainty and shift capital toward internal combustion engine (ICE) programs.
Speaking to Bloomberg during the opening of Panasonic’s new battery plant in Kansas on Monday, Lucid‘s interim chief Marc Winterhoff said external factors have delayed progress in the licensing talks.
“In the last couple of months with the uncertainty of the tariffs, I have to say many of the people we had conversations with, they have other issues,” Winterhoff stated.
“They have pressing things to solve right now,” the German executive added.
Last February — just a few weeks before stepping down as the brand’s CEO and CTO — Peter Rawlinson reaffirmed Lucid’s long-term vision to become a major EV technology supplier.
“I’d love it to be 20-80. 20% doing cars, 80% licensing,” Rawlinson said in an interview.
“We need the cars as a shop window for our product. Just as there’s an Intel inside your laptop, there’s a Lucid inside a Honda or a Toyota,” he added back then.
Over the last year, Peter Rawlinson confirmed multiple times that the company was in discussions with several carmakers regarding potential licensing deals.
Lucid’s only confirmed licensing deal to date remains its $450 million agreement with Aston Martin to supply motors, batteries, and its proprietary charging unit known as the “Wunderbox.”
However, the British automaker has twice delayed its EV debut — now expected “before 2030” — citing weak demand and a renewed focus on plug-in hybrids.
In late 2024, South Korea’s Sisa Journal reported that Hyundai’s CEO had visited Lucid’s headquarters to explore potential cooperation, including motor supply. No formal partnership has been announced.
Winterhoff confirmed that broader licensing conversations are still active but noted that recent macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds — including a magnet shortage in the second quarter — have disrupted timelines.
“Those discussions still happen on our EV core technology. But also beyond that, stay tuned, there will be other news also,” he teased.
The company will hold its second-quarter earnings call in August, where it is expected to provide updates on its annual production guidance and the mid-size platform, as confirmed by the executive.
Winterhoff added that OEMs balancing ICE and EV strategies have become more cautious with resource allocation.
“First of all, right now with the, let’s say, perceived slowdown of EV adoption, especially companies that have both ICE [internal combustion engine] vehicles and EVs, they can only invest the dollar once,” he stated.
“So right now we see, let’s say, shift back to ICE vehicles. And therefore… but they still need to come up with new models. And therefore, we have increased interest in, can we do things together? And I expect this to continue, actually,” Winterhoff concluded.
Jaguar presented its EV prototype ‘Type 00’ in December, which generated a wave of comments much like its controversial rebranding a month earlier.
Remarks like “there will be no range anxiety” and the unveiling of similar specs between Lucid’s Air sedan and Jaguar’s concept model contributed to the rumours that the battery technology would fit into Jaguar’s upcoming EV model.
