To say last week was a big one for electric carmaker Lucid Motors would be an understatement.
Last Friday shares of Churchill Capital Corp IV (CCIV) popped higher as Lucid announced it will close its reverse merger with the blank check company on July 23, following a shareholder vote on the 22nd. This was welcome news for the stock as it had been down over 50% since hitting an all-time high in mid February.
Prior to that bit of news, Lucid passed a big sales milestone for its Air electric sedan— just as the factory in Casa Grande, Arizona, was starting to come online.
"Our [Air] reservations have just exceeded 10,000," Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson said during an interview with Yahoo Finance, from Lucid’s just opened New York City studio. "They are bona fide reservations with appropriate deposits. Some people have even paid over a $7,000 deposit.”
In addition to collecting the deposits, the company is plowing that cash into new investments, pulling forward some planned capital expenditures that Rawlinson said were necessary to increase capacity and enhance manufacturing capabilities. An investment of note would be the second production line that would be soon installed for Project Gravity, the forthcoming SUV from Lucid.
These capital investments were necessary as preproduction and quality validation builds were happening now on the factory floor for Lucid’s Air sedan. Rawlinson reiterated that the builds were progressing smoothly, with some small hiccups along the way, but that initial deliveries to customers would still occur in the back half of 2021.
I had the chance to ride in one of those preproduction Lucid Air sedan around the streets of Lower Manhattan and the West Side Highway.
The Air I rode was pretty much a near production model, save for a couple body panels that spanned the pillars and roof of the car. Fit and finish were quite good for a pre-production build, the "stellar white" paint looked smooth, and panel gap lines were pretty consistent.
The dual motor Grand Touring edition here packed around 1,000 horsepower, so our jaunt around town was brisk, but incredibly smooth and quiet as well — which is fairly normal for electric sedans. But there were no rattles or harshness or odd vibrations to speak of; even during an extreme moment where our driver mashed the accelerator from a standing start on the west side highway, pinning our backs into the seats like a jet during takeoff - the Air was planted and rock solid.
It was an impressive ride, but it needs to be. The competition is coming on strong in the space, and not only from the EV king of the industry, Tesla (TSLA). Porsche’s Taycan (POAHY) and sister brand Audi’s (VWAGY) e-tron GT are stellar upscale EV offerings, and Mercedes-Benz’s’ (DDAIF) EQS electric full size sedan has the look, capabilities, and high quality craftsmanship that will bring many customers to their showrooms.
'We aim to make this a two-horse race'
From Rawlinson’s point of view the enhanced competition will only make the industry better. But he’s only really concerned about one company, and it’s one he knows well because he used to work there.
“Ultimately, it's the technology that's going to win, and what's missing here is the recognition that this is a technology race,” he says. “And right now, there is one runner in that tech race and it's Tesla. That's why Tesla commands that market cap. That's why it's in that preeminent position.”
Before our interview Rawlinson gave me a tour of the studio, where Lucid has an open chassis model on display highlighting its rigid construction, along with the innovative motors it has developed, the smaller high efficiency inverters, and the ingenious ‘wonderbox’ electric converter that’s capable of two-way charging. Over the years Lucid has been building up its hardware and technology stack too, and Rawlinson believes they are now ready to challenge Tesla.
“We have world class technology,” Rawlinson says. “And we aim to make this a two-horse race.”
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Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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