Saudi Arabia is committing much more cash to Lucid Motors because the EV startup struggles to erase its losses. Lucid introduced Monday as a part of its second-quarter earnings report that an affiliate of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund is committing one other $1.5 billion, with half coming within the type of a personal placement and the opposite half as a mortgage facility.
The deal additionally additional deepens the ties between Lucid and its majority proprietor, which has already dedicated to purchasing at the least 50,000 of its EVs within the coming years, and helps the corporate construct a model new manufacturing unit within the Kingdom.
It’s the second time Lucid has turned to Saudi Arabia for extra money since Lucid’s CEO Peter Rawlinson instructed the Monetary Instances in a March 2024 interview that he was cautious of being over-reliant on the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. “If I undertake a mindset that there’s bottomless wealth from PIF, that could be very harmful, that’s one thing I’ll by no means do, I respect them far an excessive amount of for that,” he instructed the monetary outlet.
The brand new funding comes as Lucid introduced it misplaced $643 million within the second quarter of 2024, regardless of setting a brand new gross sales file for its electrical luxurious sedans that generated $200 million of income. Lucid reported it had $1.35 billion in money and money equivalents on the finish of the second quarter.
Lucid doesn’t simply want cash to staunch the bleeding because it tries to carve out a marketplace for its luxurious sedan, the Air. It additionally wants capital to assist with the upcoming launch of its first electrical SUV, often called Gravity. Lucid has mentioned the Gravity will enter manufacturing by the tip of 2024 and has put its hopes on it changing into a hit in North America given the recognition of the shape issue within the area. The corporate laid off about 400 workers, or roughly 6% of its workforce, in Might 2024 as a part of a restructuring forward of the launch of the Gravity SUV.
