Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) Inc., formerly Churchill Capital Corp IV, is an American electric vehicle manufacturer based in Newark, California. Founded in 2007, the company has established a reputation for producing high-end electric vehicles. Lucid specializes in designing, engineering, and constructing electric vehicles, EV powertrains and battery systems. As of November 18, 2022, the firm operates 29 retail studios in the U.S. and 32 globally.
Lucid Motors is renowned for its flagship electric sedan, the Lucid Air. The company produces this post-luxury vehicle at the company's Greenfield electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Casa Grande, Arizona. The Air is powered by two electric motors and can reach a software-limited top speed of 349 miles per hour.
The Air won Motor Trend's 2022 Car of the Year, the first time a new car model earned the award. Lucid Motors teased an electric SUV concept in September 2020 called Project Gravity, featuring an image and brief video clip. Since then, it announced that Gravity will enter production in 2024.
Lucid Motors stands out for its groundbreaking technological innovation, vertical integration and clean-sheet approach to engineering and design. The firm designs, creates and builds energy storage systems for electric vehicles and supplies other automakers with the vehicle platform needed to power plug-in, hybrid and electric vehicles. Lucid Motors also partners with Amazon to build compatibility with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, allowing drivers to use the voice assistant for navigation, phone calls, media streaming and intelligent home control while driving.
The firm has attracted investments from Tsing Capital, Mitsui, Venrock, and JAFCO. In 2018, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia invested $1 billion in Lucid Motors. In 2021, the fund committed to purchasing at least 50,000 electric vehicles and up to 100,000 electric cars from Lucid Motors over ten years. To meet the increased demand, Lucid broke ground on a Casa Grande, Arizona factory in December 2019.
In February 2022, Lucid announced plans to construct a new manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia to produce 150,000 vehicles annually. On December 19, 2022, Lucid Group Inc. closed a $1.5 billion funding round, including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund's purchase of nearly 86 million company shares. As of the end of January 2023, speculation suggested that the Saudi Arabia Public Investment fund would discuss a buyout of Lucid Group Inc.
Lucid Motors is also involved in the Formula E racing series. The company designs, manufactures and supplies battery packs for gen2 Formula E race teams for the 2018-2019 season through the 2021-2022 season. Lucid Motors has joined McLaren Applied Technologies and Sony to develop Formula E specifications.
