Lucid sold 1,011 new vehicles in California in the third quarter, down 11.6% from a year earlier, as sales of its Gravity SUV fell for a second straight quarter, according to data released by the California Energy Commission (CEC).
The total was 10.8% below the 1,133 units of the second quarter and the Saudi-backed EV maker’s lowest in the state since the first quarter of 2025, when it sold 964 units.
In the first quarter of this year, Lucid recorded its highest quarterly total in the CEC data with 1,549 vehicles sold.
The Gravity accounted for 692 of the quarter’s sales, or 68.4%, up from 22.8% a year earlier.
Gravity sales rose 165.1% from 261 in the third quarter of 2025 but fell 11.2% from 779 in the second quarter. They have declined in each quarter since peaking at 989 in the first quarter of 2026.
That peak in California came in a quarter in which, Lucid said in April, “deliveries of the Lucid Gravity were disrupted for 29 days due to a supplier quality issue with the second-row seats.”
Sales of the Air sedan fell 63.9% year on year to 319 units, and 9.9% from 354 in the second quarter.
It was the Air’s lowest quarterly total in the CEC data since the second quarter of 2023.
Ranked 15th
Lucid was the 15th-largest brand by zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales in California in the third quarter, out of 42 brands in the data. It held the same position in the second quarter and ranked 20th a year earlier.
Its share of the state’s ZEV sales rose to 1.3% from 0.9% a year earlier, and it accounted for 1.5% of fully electric vehicle sales.
The Gravity ranked 21st among all zero-emission models sold in the state and 17th among fully electric ones.
It trailed Rivian’s R1S at 971 units and the Cadillac OPTIQ at 740, and was ahead of the Kia EV6 at 670, the Hyundai IONIQ 9 at 528 and the Cadillac LYRIQ at 460.
The Air ranked 34th overall, behind the BMW i5 at 343 but ahead of the Mercedes-Benz EQS at 204, the Porsche Taycan at 173 and Tesla’s Model S at 37.
Out-of-State Addresses
Los Angeles County accounted for 180 of Lucid’s third-quarter sales, followed by Santa Clara County with 121, Orange County with 104 and San Diego County with 94.
Alameda County, home to Lucid’s headquarters in Newark, recorded 78.
Another 166 vehicles, or 16.4% of the total, were registered in California with a mailing address in another state, which the CEC lists as a separate “Out of State” category.
Airs made up 119 of those 166, equal to 37.3% of all Air sales in the quarter, against 47 Gravity SUVs.
In Washington state, Lucid titled 103 new vehicles in the third quarter, according to Department of Licensing data, as EV reported last week.
Year to Date
From January through September, Lucid sold 3,693 vehicles in California, up 15.3% from 3,203 a year earlier.
Gravity sales rose to 2,460 from 319, while Air sales fell 57.2% to 1,233 from 2,884.
Lucid’s share of the state’s ZEV sales rose to 1.6% from 1.0%, as the overall market shrank 29.3% to 233,132 vehicles from 329,665, according to EV’s analysis of the data.
The market has been smaller since the federal EV tax credit expired at the end of September 2025.
Californians bought 80,392 new ZEVs in the third quarter, or 19.1% of new car sales, the CEC said.
The CEC figures are based on Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) registrations and differ from those of the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA), which reported 1,315 Lucid registrations in the first quarter, against the CEC’s current 1,549.
The CEC treats current-year figures as preliminary and revises them in later updates.
Rebate and Robotaxis
Lucid has said all of its vehicles qualify for California’s MyFirstEV rebate, which offers first-time buyers $3,500 off a new zero-emission vehicle.
“As a California company, all Lucid vehicles qualify, regardless of price,” the company says on its website.
Lucid was one of the first three automakers to offer the rebate, alongside Hyundai and Tesla, according to an August 7 release from the California Air Resources Board.
The CEC said the program had helped put 12,000 new clean cars on the road since it launched in August, without giving a breakdown by brand.
Lucid had 14 studios and service centers in California as of June 30, excluding temporary and satellite service centers, according to its latest quarterly filing.
The company said in August that Uber and Nuro were testing Gravity robotaxis across the San Francisco Bay Area and Houston, after Nuro secured a California driverless testing permit in April.
Photos posted online this month showed a camouflaged prototype of its upcoming midsize Cosmos SUV testing on Highway 101 south of San Jose.
Deliveries Fall
Lucid delivered 3,806 vehicles in the third quarter, down 6.7% from 4,078 a year earlier, and produced 2,954, the company said on October 5.
“Demand for the Lucid Gravity continued to regain momentum,” it said, without giving figures by model.
Lucid’s California sales were equal to 26.6% of its third-quarter deliveries, though the CEC counts registrations rather than deliveries.
Production fell after Lucid eliminated the second shift at its AMP-1 factory in Arizona in June, as part of a reduction of about 18% of its US workforce, according to a June 22 filing.
Lucid last reaffirmed its 2026 production guidance of 25,000 to 27,000 vehicles on April 3. However, a month later, the company suspended its guidance.
“With Silvio now on board and conducting his review of the business, we are suspending our prior guidance and will provide a full updated outlook at our second-quarter earnings call,” then-CFO Taoufiq Boussaid said on May 5.
At the second quarter call, the management said that it wouldn’t provide an official annual production guidance for 2026 while warning of a slower pace after the second production shift cut announced in June.
The company will report third-quarter financial results on November 9 and host a conference call at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
