Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson discusses EVs, Donald Trump's proposed end of EV tax credit and the Trump administration. Rawlinson speaks with Bloomberg's Matt Miller and Sonali Basak.
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Shares of Lucid, the electric car maker, are lower after a report that President elect Trump is planning on eliminating a seventy five one hundred dollars consumer tax credit for EV purchases. Joining us now is the Lucid CEO, Peter Rollinson here on set. Great to have you here in the building. Thanks so much for joining us. I initially thought, why does Lucid care if the seventy five hundred dollars tax credit is canceled, because your vehicles at over eighty thousand are starting just there, I think for the Gravity aren't really eligible for it anyway.
Yeah, they're ineligible through their price points, but there is a route through leasing where a customer would be technically eligible. But there's also a household income thresholds which rules out many of our customers.
So you're not getting a goose from that. You haven't historically and you won't in the coming year. You just had third quarter sales out that were better than expected. I think it was two hundred million, a smaller loss and expected, and you've been taking orders for your new SUV the Gravity for I think just over a week now, you've said you plan on selling nine thousand vehicles if I'm not mistaken this year manufacturing, manufacturing, So what do you expect for next year? Can you give us a little color after your first week of orders for the Gravity about what you expect in the future.
Well, you quite right, Matts. We've come off the third successive record quarter of deliveries, record Q one, record Q two, record Q three. We're assidiously working on our cost structure and we're showing great results in that respect. Gravity is about to start production imminently. I'm fresh from the factory this week, back to Arizona imminently, and we're going to start production of what I believe is the best suv on the planet very very soon, made with a huge dose of pride from Arizona. And we haven't guided for next year's production numbers yet, but what we're seeing is growth in the deliveries of air and the product that everyone's waiting for the Gravity coming. So I think there's a lot of good news to expect in twenty five.
So we'll keep an eye out for that. I actually want to go back to what a Trump administration would mean for you in twenty twenty five and beyond, because outside of the tax credits, when it comes to Lisa's etc. It's clear that Donald Trump isn't really a fan of the EV industry. I know that he is best friends right now with Elon Musk, but that doesn't change his feelings about the EV industry. What do you think that a Trump administration could mean for Lucid and are you taking any action to plan for that?
Well, I think he's a fan, like so many of American innovation. And what better example of American ingenuity and innovation than Lucid Motors the most advanced tech in the world. And I think America is truly blessed with the technology and technology advantage it has in the EV space right now. And I think that we need to think of the jobs that are created as a consequence of this great high tech jobs in Middle America. And you know, any incentive is truly an investment in the future American economy and jobs creation. So I think we should be cognizant of that. But I also would like to state this that because Lucid's got the most advanced EV technology on the planet, we're able to go further with less batteries. So if there was a situation where incentives were removed which incentivize the amount of batteries you put in the car, Lucid, amongst all the ev makers, is really the most immune from that.
What do you make of the relationship between the President elect and Elon Musk? Do you ever worry that perhaps Tesla could get more favorable treatment.
I am eternally optimistic that Lucid will prevail because we are a tech company and we've got we've really taken the mantle of technology leadership from Tesla right now, and this is not really sufficiently recognized. So I think we're in a very strong position to weather any such storm.
I'd say that so I haven't driven a Lucid vehicle, and I don't have an emotional connection to the brand, but critics overwhelmingly name it as the best electric vehicle that a consumer can buy in terms of the technology and the driving experience. Nonetheless, you need a lot more cash, right you've got I think one estimate is that you need about six billion dollars more cash before you can get to a break even rate. The Saudis have already invested I think eight eight and a half billion, including the October equity raise. How are you going to get that? Where are you going to reach back to Saudi Arabia raise more equity from current investors? Do you bring in new investors? Because Rivian has done a great job of creating a partnership with Volkswagen and I must look pretty appetizing to you.
Yes, Well, it's a capital intensive business, as we're all aware, and we've always stated that we will entrepreneurially raise extra cash at appropriate times during the growth of the company, and the last rays that October's rais is a great example of that, Matt. We raised nearly one point seventy five billion dollars, which really helps secure the future of the company. That gives us a financial runway well into twenty twenty six. And it's proven that with raising over four billion this financial year this twenty twenty four, we've been able to do that when others have found it very challenging. And throughout that the Soundies have stood shoulder to shoulder with us, and I think it is it's sicilient that they have gone pro rata with their ownership in the recent funding round. They've made a commitment to retain their percentage shareholding. So it's all about scale, and the scale comes in four steps. Brand awareness, driving more lucid air deliveries and we've seen successive quarter upon quarter record deliveries. Gravity accelerating that with a far greater total addressable market. This is the product that All America wants, the best SUV on the planet that's coming imminently. We're working on mid sized platform. That's our Tesla competitor. That's schedule for startup production late twenty six. That's our forty eight to fifty thousand dollars product. That's the big one for us, and many of my engineering team are already working full to chat on that right now.
Well, Peter, let's quickly talk about shares. We have less than a minute left with you, unfortunately, but they're hovering your record low. You talk about this opportunity set that you have in front of you. What don't you think that the market.
Is here in I think this is a long term play. I don't think they're seeing the true value proposition. This is a technology play. It's being recognized, and it's about scale now and assiduous attention to costs, and that's what my team is focused upon.
Peter, we have to leave it there. We thank you for joining us here on set. Certainly an interesting time for your industry, and an interesting time for your company, that is, Lucid CEO Peter Rolinson