Lucid (LCID) CEO Marc Winterhoff has his work cut out for him. He needs to ramp up the company’s critical-to-success SUV, the Gravity, while also assuaging investor fears about profits — or lack thereof.
“This is something I’ve said before, and I say it again, we’re not where we want to be with the Gravity at this time of the year. We actually wanted to be ahead, making significant … progress every day,” Winterhoff said in an interview with Yahoo Finance shortly after the release of Q2 earnings.
Winterhoff added that he expects the Gravity ramp-up in the second half of the year to be “drastic” and a major part of Lucid’s volume and delivery numbers.
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In terms of guidance, Lucid said that it expects 2025 production to be in a range of 18,000 to 20,000 EVs, trimming its 20,000 target.
The company has had a busy 2025 so far, including the start of low-volume production of the Gravity SUV. Early last month, Lucid said it produced 3,863 vehicles and delivered 3,309 vehicles in the second quarter, with its total for the first half of the year hitting 6,075 vehicles produced and 6,418 vehicle deliveries.
To make the big jump to 18,000 to 20,000 vehicles by the end of 2025, Winterhoff said Lucid would pull forward the launch of a second shift at its Arizona factory. The first half of the year was affected by supplier issues and the lack of magnets from places like China (which also affected rival Rivian (RIVN)), but Winteroff said those issues are behind them.
A wrench in Lucid’s plans is the loss of the federal EV tax credit, but the company said it is able to hit its production and sales goals.
“We are expecting a pull forward in demand now in Q3 and then, you know, softening in Q4, mainly for the Air sedan, not so much for the Gravity, but in general, also for that [too]. We have defined a number of countermeasures to overcome that problem,” Winterhoff said.
Countermeasures would likely include incentives like discounts and financing deals. However, those measures will likely sink Lucid deeper into the red.
Profitability is the company’s big question mark. Given its production and loss figures, Lucid posted an approximate adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) loss figure of around $161,000 per car produced. Rivian, for example, has achieved gross profit in its operations.
Winterhoff is betting on volume. “You know there’s a saying in the automotive industry: ‘Volume solves all problems,’ and I think that also applies to that,” Winterhoff said.
