Lucid‘s incoming CEO has been visiting the company’s facilities across at least three countries since his appointment was announced on April 14 — a period in which Silvio Napoli has not yet officially started in the role pending a US working visa.
LinkedIn posts from Lucid employees across Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Switzerland show Napoli engaging with manufacturing, service, retail, and engineering teams in the weeks following his appointment.
The visits coincide with what Napoli described on Tuesday’s earnings call as his initial review of the business — a process he said would inform a strategic plan to be discussed with the Board “at the earliest opportunity.”
Lucid disclosed in an April 14 SEC filing that Napoli’s appointment as CEO is contingent on receipt of his US working visa, with the EV maker expecting authorisation “in the coming weeks.”
Napoli, a Swiss-Italian executive who spent nearly 31 years at Schindler Group before his appointment as Lucid’s permanent CEO on April 14, began with the company as Executive Director based in Switzerland on April 15.
He will be formally appointed CEO once he receives US work authorisation. Until then, Marc Winterhoff continues as interim CEO.
The board, led by Chairman Turqi Alnowaiser — a senior executive at Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which holds more than 50% of Lucid’s shares — spent 14 months searching for a permanent replacement before naming Napoli.
His compensation package includes a $1.5 million annual base salary, a target bonus of 200% of salary, a $9.5 million equity grant, and up to one million performance-based stock options tied to market-capitalisation hurdles ranging from $5 billion to $17.5 billion.
The package marks the first time Lucid has structured a CEO compensation plan around sustained market-capitalisation performance, in contrast to the time-based and milestone-linked stock grants that drove former CEO Peter Rawlinson’s reported $379 million in 2022 compensation.
As of press time, Lucid’s market capitalisation was at $2.02 billion — meaning the first stock-option tranche requires a nearly 2.5-fold increase from current levels, while the fifth would require an eightfold rise.
Napoli also receives a $1 million lump sum for US relocation, up to $25,000 per month in temporary housing for six months, two company vehicles, and security protection.
The incoming CEO confirmed on the earnings call that he had visited Lucid‘s Casa Grande factory in Arizona on his first day with the company and travelled to Saudi Arabia the following week.
Arizona First
Adrian Price, Senior VP at Lucid, shared a LinkedIn post on April 17 describing a multi-site Arizona tour with Napoli alongside Interim CEO and incoming Chief Operating Officer Marc Winterhoff.
“It was a privilege to host our incoming CEO, Silvio Napoli, and our Interim CEO (and COO), Marc Winterhoff, across our Arizona facilities,” Price wrote.
The post described visits to AMP-1 in Casa Grande, where the team celebrated the production of Lucid’s 50,000th vehicle, alongside the Coolidge operations site and the Phoenix engineering hub.
“AMP-1 (Casa Grande): A massive milestone as we celebrated the production of our 50,000th vehicle,” Price wrote. “Seeing Silvio and Marc on the line with the team who made this possible was a proud moment for everyone.”
The Arizona leg took place within days of the April 14 announcement.
Saudi Arabia
Kholoud AlShamrani, a Senior Human Resources Business Partner at Lucid, posted on LinkedIn describing her role hosting Napoli at AMP-2 — Lucid‘s manufacturing facility under construction in Saudi Arabia.
“I’m honestly so grateful to have been selected as one of the panelists to host our new CEO, Silvio Napoli (…),” AlShamrani wrote.
Napoli confirmed the Saudi visit on Tuesday’s earnings call.
“Last week, I traveled to Saudi Arabia to witness a strong brand recognition in this fast-growing market and to see firsthand the progress of our new factory under construction,” he said.
“As you know, this manufacturing center is an essential part of our commitment to drive scale, profitability and to position Lucid on the world stage.”
The AMP-2 plant has been a focus of investor attention given its central role in Lucid’s midsize platform ramp-up scheduled for 2027.
The initial units are planned to be produced by the year end.
Switzerland
Patrick Steiner, who works at Lucid in Switzerland, posted approximately two weeks ago describing Napoli’s visit to the brand’s showroom in Zurich.
“It was a pleasure for the Swiss team to welcome Silvio at the Lucid studio in Zurich today,” Steiner wrote.
“Great talks with Silvio on the sales floor of our studio in Zurich, connecting with the sales people at the front, online with the team in Geneva, to get first-hand impressions from the Swiss market,” he added.
A separate LinkedIn post from Michael Freitag, who describes himself as “Shaping Lucid Motors Service Organisation in Switzerland,” shared images of Napoli touring the Lucid Service Center in Zurich.
“Thank you, Silvio, for the open, honest, and engaging conversations,” Freitag wrote.
The Visa Constraint
Napoli’s Tuesday earnings call appearance marked his first formal communication as CEO-designate, but his official assumption of the role remains pending.
Lucid noted in its April 14 8-K filing that Napoli began as Executive Director based in Switzerland on April 15, with the formal CEO appointment to follow once he receives US work authorisation.
The 8-K signed by Chief Financial Officer Taoufiq Boussaid laid out a “first Swiss employment agreement which will then become the US conditions once the US work authorisation arrives.”
The constraint creates an unusual situation in which Lucid’s incoming CEO has been actively engaging with global operations and shaping his initial strategic review before formally taking the role.
Napoli kept his earnings call remarks brief and explicitly declined to comment on the outlook.
“At the risk of stating the obvious, I’m not in the position to comment on results reached prior to my joining,” he said.
“My goal over the coming weeks is to deepen my understanding of the business so I can engage more fully with you in the future discussions.”
He outlined four near-term priorities: recentring activities around customers, ensuring organisational clarity and accountability, focusing resources on the highest-impact areas, and embedding stronger cost and capital discipline.
“What stands out immediately is the incredible domain competence and outstanding motivation of the Lucid team and the strength of our product,” Napoli said.
“At the same time, it’s clear that realizing Lucid’s full potential will require sharper focus and consistent execution, particularly around simplification, prioritization and speed.”
The CEO told analysts on Tuesday that “as of Q2, we should start somehow getting a sense of where we are” on the broader strategic review.
A formal strategic plan is expected to be discussed with the Board “at the earliest opportunity,” with an updated full-year outlook scheduled for the second-quarter earnings call.
Lucid suspended its 2026 production and capital expenditure guidance on Tuesday pending Napoli’s review.
