Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Lucid Motors has seen a “dramatic uptick” in former Tesla owners switching to its vehicles in the last two months, interim Chief Executive Officer Marc Winterhoff said Friday, as the electric vehicle maker prepares to begin customer deliveries of its Gravity SUV in the US.
“I have to say Tesla owners always have been a source for us, for new customers because they’re used to EVs and they are looking for an option other than Tesla,” Winterhoff said.
“I have to say we see a dramatic uptick in the last two months,” he added in an interview with FoxBusiness, referring to the number of former Tesla owners choosing Lucid.
“Right now, 50% of all of the orders that we have are from former Tesla owners,” the executive said.
Winterhoff was asked about the reasons behind the shift in customer behavior. In response to a question referencing negative sentiment toward Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Winterhoff said: “It was the latter that you mentioned,” adding, “They’re right now looking for an option to not continue having a Tesla.”
Lucid plans to begin customer deliveries of the high-end trim of its Gravity SUV in the US “by the end of April,” Winterhoff said at an event earlier this week at the company’s showroom in New York. The executive added that Lucid has “nearly finished” building showroom and test drive vehicles.
Asked about the impact from the recently announced imported vehicles and parts
“Our car is fully assembled in our plant in Arizona. And beyond that, as you said, we have the e-motor, the drivetrain is fully vertically integrated in our plant in Arizona,” the interim CEO stated. “We also make our battery modules in Arizona, as well as the packs.”
“And we even think about the raw materials, the critical raw materials. And we have cut deals, for instance, on graphite, two deals to secure graphite supply for us also stateside,” Winterhoff added referring to the deals announced over the last months with U.S. suppliers.
The company opened orders for the higher-end Gravity trim in November, with prices starting just under $95,000.
Lucid delivered the first Gravity SUVs to ‘some employees, family, and friends’ in the final days of 2024, and since then, it has not revealed when customer deliveries would begin. Peter Rawlinson, the former CEO and current Strategic Technical Advisor to the Chairman of the Board, also took delivery of his SUV in December.
For now, US customers can only order the higher-end trim with prices starting at $94,900. Lucid has not yet announced when orders will open in the U.S. for the more affordable Gravity Touring trim, which will start at $79,900.
For the high-end Gravity Grand Touring variant, Lucid began accepting orders in the United States and Canada in late 2024, with Saudi Arabia following shortly after.
European deliveries of the SUV are planned to begin in early 2026.
