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But mass-produced cars are a challenge of a different magnitude. Early versions of the Air cost almost $35,000 more than a premium Tesla Model S Plaid. To be profitable, Lucid must appeal to more than just a super-rich elite.
“Lucid’s biggest risks are reaching scale and capacity,” said Daniel Ives, senior analyst at Wedbush Securities, which tracks the electric car industry. “The first phase was remarkably successful. Now, it’s about the next level of adoption.”
Lucid plans to introduce a version of the Air next year that will cost $70,000 after the federal tax credit and produce 500,000 cars a year by 2030, with a lineup that will include a sports utility vehicle and a pickup. The company had burned $4.2 billion by June, and the prospectus states it could take years to make money.
in order to avoid Problems plaguing Tesla Mr. Rawlinson has been counting on people like Lucid’s chief engineer, Eric Bach, for some time in his early days assembling cars in tents. Bach, another Tesla refugee, worked at Volkswagen and takes a very German approach to production. It can illustrate the art of getting narrow body gaps at great length, the gaps between sheet metal, which is a quality measure for engineers.
“We have no intention of pitching tents,” said Mr. Bach, except perhaps “to throw a party.”
At the same time, the market is getting more and more crowded. Automakers such as Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen have invested heavily in electric vehicles.
Mr. Rawlinson had previously taken the opposition by surprise. He points out that some people doubt the Model S will be successful, or that Lucid won’t be able to make a 500-mile-range car this year and get it out of the factory gate. “There’s a track record of making claims here that sound untrue but are definitely based on science,” he said.
The success would have had an extra sweetness for Mr. Rawlinson, who left Tesla with a grudge with the company’s mercurial CEO, Elon Musk.
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