Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news Now.
Speaker 2: Shares of Lucid, the electric car maker, are lower after
Speaker 2: a report that President elect Trump is planning on eliminating
Speaker 2: a seventy five one hundred dollars consumer tax credit for
Speaker 2: EV purchases. Joining us now is the Lucid CEO, Peter
Speaker 2: Rollinson here on set. Great to have you here in
Speaker 2: the building. Thanks so much for joining us. I initially thought,
Speaker 2: why does Lucid care if the seventy five hundred dollars
Speaker 2: tax credit is canceled, because your vehicles at over eighty
Speaker 2: thousand are starting just there, I think for the Gravity
Speaker 2: aren't really eligible for it anyway.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're ineligible through their price points, but there is
Speaker 3: a route through leasing where a customer would be technically eligible.
Speaker 3: But there's also a household income thresholds which rules out
Speaker 3: many of our customers.
Speaker 2: So you're not getting a goose from that. You haven't
Speaker 2: historically and you won't in the coming year. You just
Speaker 2: had third quarter sales out that were better than expected.
Speaker 2: I think it was two hundred million, a smaller loss
Speaker 2: and expected, and you've been taking orders for your new
Speaker 2: SUV the Gravity for I think just over a week now,
Speaker 2: you've said you plan on selling nine thousand vehicles if
Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken this year manufacturing, manufacturing, So what do
Speaker 2: you expect for next year? Can you give us a
Speaker 2: little color after your first week of orders for the
Speaker 2: Gravity about what you expect in the future.
Speaker 3: Well, you quite right, Matts. We've come off the third
Speaker 3: successive record quarter of deliveries, record Q one, record Q two,
Speaker 3: record Q three. We're assidiously working on our cost structure
Speaker 3: and we're showing great results in that respect. Gravity is
Speaker 3: about to start production imminently. I'm fresh from the factory
Speaker 3: this week, back to Arizona imminently, and we're going to
Speaker 3: start production of what I believe is the best suv
Speaker 3: on the planet very very soon, made with a huge
Speaker 3: dose of pride from Arizona. And we haven't guided for
Speaker 3: next year's production numbers yet, but what we're seeing is
Speaker 3: growth in the deliveries of air and the product that
Speaker 3: everyone's waiting for the Gravity coming. So I think there's
Speaker 3: a lot of good news to expect in twenty five.
Speaker 4: So we'll keep an eye out for that. I actually
Speaker 4: want to go back to what a Trump administration would
Speaker 4: mean for you in twenty twenty five and beyond, because
Speaker 4: outside of the tax credits, when it comes to Lisa's etc.
Speaker 4: It's clear that Donald Trump isn't really a fan of
Speaker 4: the EV industry. I know that he is best friends
Speaker 4: right now with Elon Musk, but that doesn't change his
Speaker 4: feelings about the EV industry. What do you think that
Speaker 4: a Trump administration could mean for Lucid and are you
Speaker 4: taking any action to plan for that?
Speaker 3: Well, I think he's a fan, like so many of
Speaker 3: American innovation. And what better example of American ingenuity and
Speaker 3: innovation than Lucid Motors the most advanced tech in the world.
Speaker 3: And I think America is truly blessed with the technology
Speaker 3: and technology advantage it has in the EV space right now.
Speaker 3: And I think that we need to think of the
Speaker 3: jobs that are created as a consequence of this great
Speaker 3: high tech jobs in Middle America. And you know, any
Speaker 3: incentive is truly an investment in the future American economy
Speaker 3: and jobs creation. So I think we should be cognizant
Speaker 3: of that. But I also would like to state this
Speaker 3: that because Lucid's got the most advanced EV technology on
Speaker 3: the planet, we're able to go further with less batteries.
Speaker 3: So if there was a situation where incentives were removed
Speaker 3: which incentivize the amount of batteries you put in the car, Lucid,
Speaker 3: amongst all the ev makers, is really the most immune
Speaker 3: from that.
Speaker 1: What do you make of the relationship between the President
Speaker 1: elect and Elon Musk? Do you ever worry that perhaps
Speaker 1: Tesla could get more favorable treatment.
Speaker 3: I am eternally optimistic that Lucid will prevail because we
Speaker 3: are a tech company and we've got we've really taken
Speaker 3: the mantle of technology leadership from Tesla right now, and
Speaker 3: this is not really sufficiently recognized. So I think we're
Speaker 3: in a very strong position to weather any such storm.
Speaker 2: I'd say that so I haven't driven a Lucid vehicle,
Speaker 2: and I don't have an emotional connection to the brand,
Speaker 2: but critics overwhelmingly name it as the best electric vehicle
Speaker 2: that a consumer can buy in terms of the technology
Speaker 2: and the driving experience. Nonetheless, you need a lot more cash,
Speaker 2: right you've got I think one estimate is that you
Speaker 2: need about six billion dollars more cash before you can
Speaker 2: get to a break even rate. The Saudis have already
Speaker 2: invested I think eight eight and a half billion, including
Speaker 2: the October equity raise. How are you going to get that?
Speaker 2: Where are you going to reach back to Saudi Arabia
Speaker 2: raise more equity from current investors? Do you bring in
Speaker 2: new investors? Because Rivian has done a great job of
Speaker 2: creating a partnership with Volkswagen and I must look pretty
Speaker 2: appetizing to you.
Speaker 3: Yes, Well, it's a capital intensive business, as we're all aware,
Speaker 3: and we've always stated that we will entrepreneurially raise extra
Speaker 3: cash at appropriate times during the growth of the company,
Speaker 3: and the last rays that October's rais is a great
Speaker 3: example of that, Matt. We raised nearly one point seventy
Speaker 3: five billion dollars, which really helps secure the future of
Speaker 3: the company. That gives us a financial runway well into
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six. And it's proven that with raising over
Speaker 3: four billion this financial year this twenty twenty four, we've
Speaker 3: been able to do that when others have found it
Speaker 3: very challenging. And throughout that the Soundies have stood shoulder
Speaker 3: to shoulder with us, and I think it is it's
Speaker 3: sicilient that they have gone pro rata with their ownership
Speaker 3: in the recent funding round. They've made a commitment to
Speaker 3: retain their percentage shareholding. So it's all about scale, and
Speaker 3: the scale comes in four steps. Brand awareness, driving more
Speaker 3: lucid air deliveries and we've seen successive quarter upon quarter
Speaker 3: record deliveries. Gravity accelerating that with a far greater total
Speaker 3: addressable market. This is the product that All America wants,
Speaker 3: the best SUV on the planet that's coming imminently. We're
Speaker 3: working on mid sized platform. That's our Tesla competitor. That's
Speaker 3: schedule for startup production late twenty six. That's our forty
Speaker 3: eight to fifty thousand dollars product. That's the big one
Speaker 3: for us, and many of my engineering team are already
Speaker 3: working full to chat on that right now.
Speaker 4: Well, Peter, let's quickly talk about shares. We have less
Speaker 4: than a minute left with you, unfortunately, but they're hovering
Speaker 4: your record low. You talk about this opportunity set that
Speaker 4: you have in front of you. What don't you think
Speaker 4: that the market.
Speaker 3: Is here in I think this is a long term play.
Speaker 3: I don't think they're seeing the true value proposition. This
Speaker 3: is a technology play. It's being recognized, and it's about
Speaker 3: scale now and assiduous attention to costs, and that's what
Speaker 3: my team is focused upon.
Speaker 1: Peter, we have to leave it there. We thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us here on set. Certainly an interesting time
Speaker 1: for your industry, and an interesting time for your company,
Speaker 1: that is, Lucid CEO Peter Rolinson