Lucid Motors on Wednesday held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Innovation Hub in Phoenix, Arizona, at a facility previously used by the recently bankrupted EV maker Nikola.
The Arizona Manufacturers Council shared photos of the event, describing the site as a “state-of-the-art facility” and “a big investment in Arizona’s EV future.”
In April, Lucid announced it had reached an agreement to acquire select facilities and assets in Arizona that previously belonged to Nikola.
As part of the agreement, Lucid took over Nikola’s former manufacturing facility in Coolidge and the Phoenix facility, which had served as Nikola’s headquarters and product development center.
The buildings added more than 884,000 square feet to Lucid’s operations in Arizona.
The transaction did not include Nikola’s business, customer base, or technology related to its hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks — the EV maker clarified back then.
Lucid also said it plans to offer employment to more than 300 former Nikola employees in positions across its Arizona facilities.
The roles include technical salaried and hourly positions in manufacturing engineering, software, assembly, vehicle testing, and warehouse support.
Lucid began on Wednesday rolling out the 2.7.0 over-the-air software update bringing Android Auto integration for its Lucid Air electric sedan.
Lucid sold 28 vehicles across its four markets in Europe, seven additional units when compared to the 21 sedans it sold a year ago.
Earlier on Wednesday, Lucid’s Managing Director in Europe Lawrence Hamilton said that the company expects to be present across the UK, France, Italy, and Spain “over the next 18 months.”
The Belgian and the Danish markets will be two of the upcoming new regions for the Newark-based brand.
