Lucid Motors reported combined fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, lacking earnings estimates however beating income expectations. The corporate additionally gave a preview of its progress plans for 2026, and whereas it is definitely rising, this is not going to be the 12 months the place it hits mass-market volumes.
The California-based EV startup goals to supply between 25,000 and 27,000 automobiles this 12 months. The highest finish of that vary would characterize a roughly 50% soar over final 12 months’s manufacturing of 17,840 models. That is important progress for the corporate’s two-vehicle lineup. However it’s clearer than ever that Lucid’s path ahead—and its potential profitability—rests on the $50,000 midsize crossover that is set to launch by the tip of this 12 months.
“With higher management over manufacturing and with a watch in direction of warning in 2026, as we deal with long run sustainable profitability, we anticipate to supply between 25,000 to 27,000 automobiles for the 12 months,” Lucid CFO Taoufiq Boussaid mentioned on the automaker’s Tuesday earnings name.
Photograph by: Patrick George
On Tuesday, interim CEO Marc Winterhoff mentioned nearly all of that manufacturing can be Gravity SUVs. After a rocky begin to Gravity manufacturing final 12 months attributable to each {hardware} and software program points, issues appeared to easy out by the ultimate quarter of 2025.
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Regardless of promoting some amazingly engineered vehicles, Lucid has struggled to scale up gross sales, due partly to the high-end segments it performs in and a scarcity of name consciousness. The Air, the 500-mile EV that put Lucid on the map in 2021, is hamstrung by its sedan type issue. And it appears to be like just like the three-row Gravity gained’t be the ticket to critical volumes both. It seems that in 2026 Lucid doesn’t plan to develop its quarterly output previous the roughly 8,000 models it inbuilt This fall.
The corporate’s upcoming $50,000 midsize crossover is its finest wager to achieve greater volumes and claw its solution to profitability. (Rivian is embarking on the same problem with the R2 crossover launching subsequent quarter.) Within the meantime, Lucid has needed to resort to cost-cutting measures. The Saudi-backed firm laid off 12% of its U.S. workforce final Friday, in a transfer that it mentioned will lower $500 million in prices over three years.
Photograph by: Lucid Motors
However competitors for the midsize EV is will probably be steeper than ever. With automobiles just like the BMW iX3, Mercedes-Benz GLC and Rivian R2 coming to market within the coming months, whether or not the brand new car can actually take off as Lucid wants it to stays an open query. Winterhoff reaffirmed Lucid’s intention to start out making midsize automobiles by the tip of 2026, however mentioned it would not be produced in significant volumes this 12 months.
Winterhoff mentioned the corporate would share extra on its midsize EV plans at its investor day on March 12.
Contact the writer: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
