Lucid’s Gravity SUV arrives with high expectations, and big risks

Lucid Motors will get rave evaluations from critics. Nevertheless it’s sorely missing clients.

That is an issue the corporate cannot afford.

The Arizona-based electric-vehicle maker has top-shelf tech, deep-pocketed backers and highly praised cars. Nonetheless, Lucid has struggled to satisfy manufacturing targets, and has been unable to steal the highlight away from established luxurious manufacturers with century-old pedigrees.

Lucid is ramping up manufacturing of its high-end, three-row Gravity SUV, although it has offered just a few hundred models to this point in 2025, in response to a Cox Automotive report from mid-October. The Gravity’s manufacturing ramp has confronted a slew of challenges, primarily provide chain shortages.

Lucid stated it disputed gross sales figures from third-parties, calling these reviews “utterly inaccurate.”

“Whereas we do not get away mannequin combine, Lucid Gravity deliveries are already within the hundreds and can signify nearly all of buyer deliveries in This autumn,” a Lucid spokesperson stated in a press release.

A spokesman for Cox stated the corporate stands by its numbers.

Lucid already has plans for an additional car aimed extra on the center of the market, the place it might compete with the top-selling Tesla Mannequin Y SUV. And Lucid is investing in self-driving vehicles for customers whereas engaged on a robotaxi fleet in partnership with Uber and Nuro, which makes self-driving tech.

Within the course of, Lucid is burning by way of some huge cash. The corporate’s third-quarter results have been worse than Wall Road anticipated, with a internet lack of near $1 billion.

“Their gross revenue has been getting form of worse,” stated Tom Narayan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. “Lots of people are doing the mathematics. How lengthy can the corporate maintain dropping money?”

Including to Lucid’s challenges is a more durable setting for all EV producers. Demand has fallen wanting expectations, and plenty of automakers are pulling again. EVs have misplaced key help from the federal authorities, together with a $7,500 tax credit score, funding for charging and restrictions on state stage packages that incentivize automakers to provide zero-emission autos.

A ‘unbelievable automotive’

Lucid’s first car, a sedan referred to as the Air, is the most well-liked car in its section, in response to Cox Automotive, which tracks the U.S. auto market. Via the third quarter, the Air was the third best-selling, full-size luxurious sedan and the highest promoting electrical sedan, in response to the corporate. The Air is often a “critic’s choose.” No different EV can contact the 512-mile vary of the Air Grand Touring, considered one of its high trim ranges.

In 2024, Lucid delivered 10,241 autos, nearly all of which have been Air sedans. That was up 71% from 2023. By comparability, U.S. EV chief Tesla delivered 1.8 million autos in 2024.

Gross sales of sedans have persistently underperformed in comparison with these of SUVs, crossovers, and pickups, which now all however dominate the roads. Of the highest 10 best-selling fashions within the U.S., seven are from these three segments, in response to Edmunds.

“It was a unbelievable automotive,” stated Sam Abuelsamid, vice chairman of market analysis for Telemetry. “It nonetheless is a unbelievable automotive. Nevertheless it got here to market at form of the incorrect time.”

In 2023, Tesla’s Mannequin Y was the best-selling car on the earth, in response to JATO Dynamics. Tesla offered greater than 265,000 Mannequin Y models by way of the third quarter of 2025, in response to Cox Automotive. That is about 100,000 greater than Tesla’s Mannequin 3 sedan, per the report. Amongst EVs, the Mannequin 3 is unusually fashionable for a sedan. Behind the 2 Tesla Fashions, the three autos that spherical out the highest 5 are crossovers — Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Hyundai Ioniq5.

The Mannequin S — the Air’s closest Tesla competitor by way of dimension, efficiency and value — offered simply over 4,500 models to this point in 2025, in response to Cox Automotive.

The best quantity EVs, such because the Mannequin Y, are additionally inexpensive than the Air, which begins simply above $70,000 and runs as much as a couple of quarter of 1,000,000 {dollars}. The Mannequin 3 is sort of half that, beginning at round $37,000. The common EV transaction value in November was simply above $59,000, in response to Cox Automotive.

“There’s simply not sufficient of a marketplace for these premium electrical sedans proper now,” Abuelsamid stated.

Lucid offered 300 Gravity SUVs within the U.S. in 2025 by way of mid-October, in response to Cox Automotive. Just like the Air, the Gravity has a excessive price ticket. Nonetheless, the corporate has stated the Gravity stands to draw six instances as many shoppers because the Air.

“We’ll see if that is the case,” stated Narayan. “The most recent numbers I’ve seen present it form of equalizing the gross sales of sedans.”

Lucid interim CEO Marc Winterhoff instructed CNBC in an interview that the corporate has seen “an excellent uptick in demand in terms of the Gravity as in comparison with the Air.” He added that almost all clients are configuring the automotive in ways in which run the worth above $100,000.

Manufacturing hassle

Demand is perhaps sturdy, however Lucid additionally has to get the car into clients’ arms. The launch of Gravity deliveries to U.S. clients in early 2025 was beset by shortages of key supplies like magnets, aluminum and chips, Winterhoff stated on the corporate’s third-quarter earnings name.

“We have not been capable of produce as many as we needed up till this level,” Winterhoff instructed CNBC. “We’re very assured proper now that we solved these issues.”

Deliveries have risen for seven straight quarters, culminating in third-quarter deliveries seeing a 47% p.c year-to-year bounce. Lucid has added a second shift to the ultimate meeting part of its manufacturing facility to satisfy demand.

The corporate stated demand has been resilient regardless of worries that the EV market is stalling after the federal EV incentive ended on Sept. 30.

“In October, our supply numbers went up,” Winterhoff stated. “Whereas in lots of different pure EV gamers and even EVs for incumbent gamers that even have [internal combustion] autos, the deliveries dropped down drastically.”

Nonetheless, analysts say it is a more durable time to make EVs than it was when Tesla was ramping up the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y.

“They have been the one sport on the town,” Narayan stated. “So there wasn’t competitors there. Additionally they benefited from battery costs falling considerably. They usually acquired a whole lot of authorities help. Right now we’re in a really completely different world.” 

If gross revenue retains getting worse, Lucid will finally must return to traders, Narayan stated. The corporate is at present about 55% owned by the Saudi Public Funding fund, in response to FactSet.

Within the third quarter, Lucid and the PIF agreed to extend a delayed draw time period mortgage credit score facility from $750 million to roughly $2 billion. A DDTL is a mortgage the corporate can draw on over time, somewhat than unexpectedly. That brings Lucid’s whole liquidity to $5.5 billion. The corporate has stated it has sufficient to get by way of the primary half of 2027.

“Thus far, the Saudis have put many billions of {dollars} into Lucid, and so they’ve been very affected person by way of Lucid’s struggles as they attempt to ramp up manufacturing and gross sales,” stated Abuelsamid. “It is unclear how lengthy they’ll proceed to be affected person.”

The corporate additionally received a $300 million funding from Uber in September to develop a platform for robotaxis with a 3rd accomplice, autonomous driving tech developer Nuro. On high of that, Uber plans to purchase 20,000 Gravity autos for the self-driving fleet.

Individually, Lucid has a partnership with Nvidia to develop what it calls the “the primary true eyes-off, hands-off, and mind-off (L4) client owned autonomous car.” L4 means Stage 4, almost the very best stage of autonomy within the present system devised by the Society for Automotive Engineers.

“You could make investments first and then you definitely reap the advantages afterward,” Winterhoff stated. “And subsequently now we have to do a whole lot of issues in parallel.”

Smaller SUV on the best way

Regardless of Gravity’s manufacturing challenges, the corporate is already at work on its subsequent car — a mid-size crossover priced nearer to the business common of about $50,000.

That would increase volumes, however deepen losses.

“If gross revenue is destructive at a car transacting round $100,000 or extra on common, what Lucid’s Air and Gravity are at present going for, what’s going to it appear to be when the corporate is promoting a car that’s nearer to half of that?” Narayan stated.

“One reply might be, nicely, it is a a lot greater scale, so you have got higher working leverage,” Narayan stated. The argument, he stated, is that Lucid’s know-how allows it to squeeze much more vary out of a battery than rivals.

“Our autos are far more environment friendly by 30% to 40% than the competitors,” stated Emad Dlala, senior vice chairman of engineering and digital at Lucid. “Which means a decrease [bill of materials] value. Which means higher margins.”

Dlala stated the Lucid Air Pure has a battery dimension of a Tesla Mannequin Y, however has a range of 420 miles. That is a couple of hundred miles greater than the Model Y.

Lucid stated the cash it is spending goes to growing an array of applied sciences and manufacturing processes which are laborious to repeat.

“Lucid has about over 10 years of powertrain historical past,” stated Dala, including that the corporate has plenty of patented applied sciences throughout powertrain, car and software program that results in good points in effectivity. “This did not come in a single day.”

That extends to the best way the vehicles are made.

“We use manufacturing processes right here that nobody else within the business makes use of in powertrain,” stated Adrian Worth, senior vice chairman of operations at Lucid.

Worth stated Lucid brings a lot of the car-making course of in home.

“We’ve much more of our personal subassemblies,” Worth stated. “That is additionally how we get the efficiency that different individuals do not. Lots of that engineering is outsourced by different main automakers. Not solely will we do the engineering, however we additionally do the manufacturing. And we are able to management among the Lucid secret sauce by doing it in-house.”

One space the place Lucid seems to lag rivals is model consciousness.

“Lots of people do not know what Lucid is,” Narayan stated. “That is the most important hurdle that they’ve.”

The corporate has given extra thought to advertising and marketing and elevating its profile within the luxurious market, the place it is going up in opposition to names like Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW.

“The client of a luxurious model, sometimes, they like issues like heritage,” Narayan stated. “The model issues. So how do you create that from scratch?”

“We’re very well-known and have tons of accolades within the motor press,” Winterhoff stated. “Everyone who’s involved in vehicles is aware of about it, however that is not nearly all of car patrons.”

Lucid has begun a brand new advertising and marketing and promoting technique for the Gravity, with actor Timothee Chalamet as its first “world model ambassador.”

“We’re shifting from specializing in our autos, concerning the capabilities of our autos, to what does it imply to personal a Lucid and what does it say about you?” Winterhoff stated.

Winterhoff stated he is assured the corporate can efficiently ramp the Gravity whereas constructing and finally delivering its mid-size car.

“That’s the level the place I feel it is a sustainable enterprise going ahead,” he stated. “We’ve a transparent plan additionally to profitability.”

Watch the video to get an unique inside take a look at Lucid’s Gravity manufacturing and to search out out what’s subsequent for the automaker.

Correction: An earlier model of this text didn’t embrace attribution for Cox Automotive for Gravity SUV gross sales up to now in 2025. Lucid has disputed the figures. The article additionally incorrectly attributed the yr of Tesla car gross sales estimates from Cox Automotive. Moreover, the article incorrectly spelled the title of Lucid interim CEO Marc Winterhoff.