Lucid Motors, based in California, has found Saudi Arabia becoming increasingly important to its operations. Since the beginning of the year, Lucid has sold over 1,000 vehicles there and secured $2.5 billion in support from an investment fund, opening new showrooms and service centers to support growth in the Middle East.
Lucid's CEO Peter Rawlinson stated that vehicle sales in Saudi Arabia exceeded 500 units in the first quarter, though specific figures for the second quarter were not disclosed at the earnings conference held on August 5. However, in an interview, Lucid's COO Mark Winterkorn mentioned that sales in the country “contributed significantly” to the company's new sales records.
He added: “In fact, as you likely saw, we achieved record sales worldwide in the last two quarters, especially with Saudi Arabia playing a significant role in this success.” Last March, the electric vehicle manufacturer, led by a former Tesla CEO, announced that the Saudi Public Investment Fund would purchase $1.0 billion of a newly created series of preferred shares through a private placement.
Last month, Lucid revealed that the Public Investment Fund would buy an additional $750 million in preferred shares and provide a deferred loan facility of $750 million. The fund currently owns more than 60% of Lucid Motors. In terms of infrastructure, the company is currently expanding its assembly plant with the aim of starting production of both Lucid Air and the upcoming Gravity model at the Saudi factory.
During the opening of a new showroom and service center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Faisal Sultan, Vice President and General Manager of Lucid Middle East, stated that the expansion comes at a time when “Lucid is outperforming all competitors.” He stated: “We are outperforming all our competitors. Therefore, we need a larger production scale. We also have a very large service center. So, the customer will have a one-stop solution where they can come and buy the car and then bring it back later for maintenance.”
In September 2023, Lucid opened its first factory outside the United States in Saudi Arabia, with an initial capacity of 5,000 electric vehicles per year. In the second quarter of the year, the company delivered 2,394 vehicles and produced 2,110 units. For the year as a whole, Lucid expects to produce 9,000 vehicles.
