Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund-backed Lucid Motors reported a net loss of USD 684.8k in 1Q 2024, according to its recent earnings release. While the net loss is better than the USD 779.5 mn loss it reported in the same quarter last year, it fell short of analyst expectations, Bloomberg writes. The company’s revenue saw a 13.5% y-o-y increase to USD 172.7 mn — up from USD 149.4 in 1Q 2023.
But its net losses grew compared to the previous quarter: Lucid’s saw a 4.5% q-o-q increase in net losses, up from USD 653.8k in 4Q 2023. Lucid’s 1Q 2024 revenue saw a 9.9% q-o-q increase, up from USD 157.2 mn in 4Q 2023. Similar to last year, the company has yet to turn a profit.
Production goals remained steady: The company produced over 1.7k vehicles and delivered over 1.9k vehicles during the quarter, marking a 39.9% y-o-y increase, the statement noted. The EV maker still maintains its goal of producing 9k vehicles this year.
What they said: Lucid’s success boils down to its “superior in-house technology and the partnership with the PIF,” CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson said in the release. The company is focused on growth and cost optimization as the year progresses, Interim CFO and Principal Accounting Officer Gagan Dhingra added.
Lucid took a hit in its share prices on the back of unstable EV demand: Lucid lost around 30 cents per share in comparison to the expected 25 cents despite the higher than expected revenue due to production issues and unstable demand, according to Bloomberg analysts.
REMEMBER- They’re looking to diversify investments: Lucid says it cannot depend on the “ bottomless wealth ” of its Saudi owner — the PIF subsidiary which owns 60.46% stake recently invested USD 1 bn in the company — and will set in motion fundraising this year. Lucid has enough funds to last into 2025, but is burning through around USD 1 bn a quarter.
ALSO- The EV industry has been slowing down: Last month, BYD experienced its slowest quarterly bottomline growth in two years as EV sales momentum slowed down, leading to a 6.1% drop in the company’s Hong Kong shares. In March, Lucid Motors’ shares were down 31% since the beginning of the year, and there is a belief among some pundits that US appetite for EVs — which rose to a peak during covid — has fallen off.