Written by Matilde Alves | Edited by Cláudio Afonso
In an interview with InsideEVs at the BloombergNEF Summit, Lucid’s CEO Peter Rawlinson reiterated last Friday the company’s ambitions on the tech and licensing side while continuing to sell electric vehicles.
“I’d love it to be 20-80. 20% doing cars, 80% licensing,” Rawlinson stated while noting that Lucid doesn’t aim to “just be a supplier”.
“We need the cars as a shop window for our product,” the chief executive stated. “Just as there’s an Intel inside your laptop, there’s a Lucid inside a Honda or a Toyota.”
Rawlinson also stated that he aims to license Lucid’s tech to other automakers, even including brands that haven’t yet developed EV models. Lucid aims to be in a “much better position to offer those companies that haven’t invested in the technology.”
Licensing deals
Over the last year, Peter Rawlinson confirmed multiple times that the company was in discussions with several carmakers regarding potential licensing deals.
The chief executive had distinguished the company’s tech as “not family car tech”. “It suits something like a Jaguar or Maserati,” he added in mid-2024.
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 suggest that the battery’s technology would fit into Jaguar’s upcoming EV model.
In 2023, Lucid also signed a supply deal with Aston Martin, where the British brand uses Lucid’s motors, battery technology and ‘Wunderbox’ in its upcoming model, for $450 million.
However, Aston Martin has already delayed the launch of its first EV twice, citing weak customer demand.
The company’s CEO Adrian Hallmark told Autocar last week that the model is now expected to debut “before 2030”, as opposed to 2027, the initially planned date for deliveries to start. To face emissions targets, the brand will focus on the hybrid lineup.
Last year, and according to a report from the South Korean Sisa Journal, the U.S. start-up was allegedly preparing to supply electric motors to Hyundai. The local media outlet reported that Hyundai Motor’s CEO has visited Lucid’s headquarters to discuss a potential cooperation.
Sales and Expansion
The luxury EV brand produced 3,386 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2024, allowing the company to exceed its annual production guidance of 9,000 units, with a total of 9,029 vehicles produced in 2024.
According to Motor Intelligence, the California-based EV maker sold 7,578 units in the U.S. last year.
In January, Lucid sold 665 vehicles in the U.S., declining sequentially from a record of 780 units sold in December. Year over year, the company saw a 51% rise in U.S. sales.
At the time of writing, Lucid shares are trading slightly higher at $2.83. The stock lost 20.8% over the last twelve months.
Lucid, that has Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as its major shareholder, is currently in the U.S., Canada, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and four European markets, with expansion planned in the old continent later this year.
After having delivered the first units of its second model — the Gravity SUV — in late December, Lucid has not yet revealed when U.S. and Canadian customers can expect the first deliveries of the high-end variant.
Last week, the SUV gained access to Tesla’s supercharger network with CEO Peter Rawlinson naming it “the most available and convenient charging network in the United States and Canada.”
Written by Matilde Alves | Edited by Cláudio Afonso
