Lucid Motors Debuts on the Nasdaq and Raises $4.4 Billion as its Looks to Take on Tesla

author: Eric Walz   

Lucid Group CEO & CTO Peter Rawlinson poses at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City on July 26, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)

California-based luxury electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors launched its U.S. IPO on Monday after completing the previously announced merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Churchill Capital Corp IV on July 23, 2021. The combined company will now operate as "Lucid Group, Inc."

The stock is listed under the new ticker symbols "LCID" and "LCIDW," respectively. As of 2:00pm EDT, the stock was up 10% to $26.68. It spiked as high as 20% earlier in the day.

Lucid Motors is one of the most talked about electric vehicle startups since Tesla went public in June 2010. No doubt that its IPO will be closely watched by investors looking for the next big thing in the EV space. Lucid raised $4.4 billion in its IPO and is hoping to cash in on the strong investor interest in electric vehicle stocks that helped propel Tesla to become the world's most valuable automaker last year with a market cap topping $650 billion. Now Lucid is positioned to be a formidable challenger to segment leader Tesla.

"Lucid has industry-leading technology, clear demand for its products, and is on track to deliver revenue-generating cars to customers in the second half of this year," said Michael S. Klein, Chairman and CEO of Churchill Capital Corp IV. "We are excited to support Lucid's transition into a public company and confident in its ability to address unmet needs in the automotive industry, which is moving towards electrification at a rapid pace and on a global scale." 

As a newly listed public company, Lucid Group CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson will continue to lead the company along with the Churchill IV's leadership team. 

Rawlinson is an auto industry veteran and former Tesla employee. He worked under Elon Musk as Chief Engineer of the Tesla Model S before joining Lucid in 2013. 

Lucid's first vehicle is the ultra-luxury Lucid Air sedan. It will compete with high-end electric models from Tesla, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi and Porsche. The top of the line Lucid Air Dream Edition, which is already sold out, will have a range of over 500 miles and produce 1,080 horsepower from its advanced electric, all-wheel-drive powertrain.

The more mainstream version of the Lucid Air called the "Air Pure" is available to reserve now with a starting price of $77,400, before any EV tax credits. 

Customer deliveries of Lucid Air are planned to begin in the second half of 2021.

Rawlinson said in the past that the ultra-luxurious and high-performance Lucid Air sedan will be the "world's most advanced electric car" and will define Lucid as a company.

"Lucid's mission is to truly mass industrialize electric cars and electric powertrain systems through the development of the most advanced technology imaginable," said Rawlinson. "Lucid Air represents the next generation of EVs and creates new standards for interior comfort, range, efficiency and power. We are on track to meet our projected deliveries for the next two years, and we look forward to delighting our customers around the world with the best electric vehicles ever created."

Lucid said it recently passed 11,000 paid reservations for Lucid Air, including the fully reserved Dream Edition, the Grand Touring edition, and both Touring and Pure versions. The Air sedan will be produced at Lucid's factory in Casa Grande, Arizona.

The company calls its Arizona factory Lucid AMP-1, which stands for "Advanced Manufacturing Plant." It's also the first U.S. auto factory built from the ground up solely for electric vehicle production. 

 Rawlinson is betting that Lucid's advanced powertrain technology and state-of-the-art factory will set the company apart from rivals like Tesla, Porsche and Mercedes Benz. But the company's team of engineers and visionaries are an important part of its mission to deliver one of the world's most advanced electric cars.

"Thank you to my colleagues across the country, from our headquarters in California to our factory in Arizona, for their outstanding efforts and willingness to question what's possible every day. I am proud of Lucid's core foundations, built on curiosity, determination, and sound engineering principles," said Rawlinson.

Following the Air, Lucid plans to develop a luxury electric SUV. The code name for Lucid's electric SUV project is called "Project Gravity." It's expected to enter production in 2023 in Arizona.

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.