Bay Area luxury carmaker Lucid lays off 1,300 workers and executives
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Lucid's headquarters in Newark, Calif., pictured on March 29, 2023. The luxury electric vehicle maker announced plans to lay off 1,300 workers, 18% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring plan.
Lucid Group, an electric vehicle startup based in the Bay Area suburb of Newark, has burned through hundreds of millions of dollars of Saudi Arabian funding, successfully dealing with production snafus and supply chain issues.
But amid low demand for its luxury sedans, the company is cutting back: Lucid will lay off 1,300 workers, according to a filing posted Tuesday.
The layoff round represents 18% of the employees at the Bay Area carmaker, and will hit employees in “nearly every organization and level, including executives,” according to an email to the company sent Tuesday by CEO Peter Rawlinson. The cut comes after layoff rounds at several competitors, including Rivian, and amid wider cutbacks in tech and automotive workforces.
Lucid’s laid off employees will receive a severance package with company-paid health care coverage and equity vesting, the email said. Workers will learn if they still have a job by the end of the week.
“I know this is not easy as these actions create uncertainty,” Rawlinson wrote in the email. “This week and the weeks ahead will be about processing change as we show empathy for colleagues who are departing and as we come together on our path forward.
“These decisions are designed to position us to be more resilient and agile, thereby strengthening the company for the long-term,” he added. Rawlinson, formerly a vice president at Tesla, joined Lucid in 2013 as chief technology officer and added the chief executive title in 2019.
The firm’s four available sports sedans range in price from $87,400 to $249,000, and have garnered positive reviews for their sleek designs and powerful builds. But after struggling to build cars as quickly as they wanted, now executives say that Lucid has work to do in raising brand awareness and vehicle demand.
Lucid plans to build just 10,000 to 14,000 vehicles in 2023, chief financial officer Sherry House said in the last earnings report, even with almost 30,000 nonbinding reservations for vehicles and a scheduled 100,000-car order from Saudi Arabia. Already a large investor, the nation’s public investment fund dumped $915 million more into Lucid in December. Tesla delivered 66,705 luxury Model S sedans last year.
The company began as an electric battery maker in 2007, and still provides racing motors to ultra-fast Formula E race cars. Its newest design is “inspired” by Lucid’s California roots: The $249,000 sedan is a shade of blue inspired by benitoite, the Golden State’s official gem.
Hear of anything happening at Lucid or another tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.
