Electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors (LCID) reported a third-quarter sales increase and a narrower-than-expected loss as the company gears up for the all-important release of its Gravity electric SUV.
For the quarter, Lucid reported revenue of $200 million, above estimates of $196.3 million compiled by Bloomberg and significantly higher than the $137.8 million reported a year ago. Lucid reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.28, narrower than the expected loss of $0.31, with adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) coming in at a loss of $613.1 million, better than expected loss of $634.4 million .
Lucid previously reported that it produced 1,805 vehicles in the third quarter, with deliveries of 2,781. The company said today it is on track to meet annual production guidance of 9,000 vehicles.
“Our momentum continues with our third consecutive quarter of record shipments,” said Peter Rawlinson, CEO and Chief Technology Officer of Lucid, in a statement. “In addition, we are excited to open the order book today for the highly anticipated Lucid Gravity SUV, a breakthrough product that remains on track to start production this year.”
The company also said it ended the quarter with $5.16 billion in cash – a major runway as the company begins production of the Gravity. This doesn’t include the roughly $1.75 billion it raised in a stock sale earlier last month.
“We continue to see improvements in gross margin performance as our cost savings efforts gain momentum,” Gagan Dhingra, interim CFO of Lucid, said in a statement. “With our recent capital increase, we are pleased to once again have the continued support of both the Public Investment Fund and other institutional investors.”
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), through its subsidiary Ayar Third Investment Company, is Lucid’s largest investor. Ayar purchased additional shares during the capital increase to maintain his 58.8% stake.
Lucid hopes its upcoming Gravity SUV, expected to begin production later this year, will boost sales by a significant margin.
“We believe the total addressable market for Gravity is six times larger than Lucid Air,” Rawlinson said in an interview with Yahoo Finance in August. Rawlinson said the company will eventually have the capacity to build 90,000 Gravity SUVs per year at its Arizona factory.
The big question will be whether Lucid can build the Gravity SUV efficiently and undercut costs. The Gravity is expected to cost around $80,000 in the US, right at the threshold to qualify for the federal EV tax credit.
