While its luxury electric vehicles have been mostly well received by critics, Lucid Motors could be in for a rocky 2026. Plans for new models are out and a new CEO is in, but the automaker’s bank ledger is creaking under the weight of the need for more sales from existing models to the tune of about a $1 billion.
The California-based electric vehicle maker said Tuesday in its first-quarter earnings report that losses per share were $3.46 against a $2.64 estimate—representing a quarterly net loss of $989,485,000. Revenue was up 20% year-over-year to $282.5 million versus the projected $440.4 million. However, Lucid also received $550 million from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as part of a $1.05 billion capital raise.
Lucid’s year didn’t start off well when nearly all of its new Gravity SUVs were recalled because of seat belt anchors that might fail in a collision, something discovered at the end of January during routine testing. The company attributed slower-than-expected deliveries of the long-awaited model in the first quarter to that problem that stopped sales for nearly a month, but stated that sales were up 14% in March compared to the same time in 2025.
Still, Lucid produced 5,500 vehicles in the first quarter but delivered 3,093 Gravity SUVs and Air sedans. According to CNBC, there is no planned production idle yet at its Arizona assembly plant even as the company is “taking further steps to align production with anticipated deliveries and customer demand,” Lucid stated Tuesday.
That hiccup, along with projected economic uncertainty throughout the year, forced the California-based automaker to throw out its original 25,000-to-27,000 sales estimate. But the company couldn’t guess how many it would end up making this year, or if that number would pass the 18,000 from 2025, according to TechCrunch.
Lucid is banking on lucrative deals with Uber and Nuro for as many as 35,000 robotaxis over the next several years, up from an initial 20,000-vehicle order. It also named its new CEO, Silvio Napoli, after longtime executive Peter Rawlinson suddenly resigned more than a year ago. And in March, it revealed its plans for the midsize Earth and Cosmos models, plans for the Lunar robotaxi also on the same platform, and a new, less expensive drive unit.
The first midsize models that should do battle with the likes of the new Rivian R2 and longstanding Tesla Model Y, among several others, won’t arrive until next year and Lucid insists its finances will hold to see that happens. In the meantime, it really needs to move some Gravitys.
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