Lucid misses 2021 delivery targets, lowers 2022 production aim

American electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid has reduced its 2022 production targets after missing its expected delivery quota last year.

The start-up EV maker put its first model – the Air – into production at the back end of 2021, setting a target of 500 but only managing 125 by the end of the year – as a total of 300 customer deliveries have now been made up to the end of February 2022.

Reflecting on this result, Lucid announced it would proactively cut the number of vehicles it aims to deliver this year, with its initial target of 20,000 units now slashed to 12,000-14,000 over the course of 2022.

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However, the start-up still has in excess of 25,000 reservations to fall back on, amounting to more than US$3.5 billion (AU$4.78bn) in sales thanks to the entry-level Air Grand Touring's starting price of US$139,000 (AU$190,000), which steps up to US$169,000 (AU$230,000) for the flagship Dream Edition.

Despite the reduction, chief financial officer Sherry House believes the company is in a strong position, as it is poised to expand its Casa Grande facility in Arizona by 260,000 square metres.

“We have a strong team, strong products, and a strong balance sheet with over US$6.2 billion (AU$8.44bn) in cash on hand at year-end," said House.

"We continue to invest in our business; we met our target of opening 20 Studio and Service locations in North America; in 2022 we will expand our footprint in Europe and the Middle East while laying the foundation for a later expansion into the Asia Pacific, and we remain on track to grow our Casa Grande facility to nearly quadruple its size as the first greenfield dedicated EV factory in North America.

"Today we announced plans to build a brand new manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia; we estimate that the location of our first international manufacturing plant [there] may result in up to $3.4 billion of value to Lucid over 15 years.”

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Lucid boasts the highest EPA-rated fully-electric driving range of any electric vehicle manufacturer after its Air Dream Edition became the first EV to crack through the 800 kilometre barrier, setting a recorded driving range of 837km.

While North America is Lucid's sole market at this present point in time, the brand has previously said an Australian launch is on the agenda, although we'll have to wait for right-hand-drive production models to begin rolling down the line first.