By Jack Ewing | New York Times
Lucid Motors, a maker of widely praised electric cars that the company has struggled to mass-produce, cut its production target for the year by almost half on Wednesday after delivering just 679 vehicles in the second quarter.
The California company, which hopes to challenge Tesla in the luxury car market, had told investors this year that it would deliver 12,000 vehicles in 2022. The new target is 6,000 to 7,000. Even that more modest goal requires Lucid to deliver at least five times as many cars in the second half of the year as it did in the first half.
Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s chief executive, blamed “the extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges we encountered” for the shortfall. Demand for vehicles remains strong, he said.
“Although frustrating,” Mr. Rawlinson said during a conference call with investors, “this is a phase of our company’s growth that we will power through.”
The 679 deliveries in the second quarter compared with just 360 vehicles in the first. Lucid said in May that it was having problems acquiring components. All automakers have suffered supply chain problems, but shortages of parts and raw materials have come at an especially bad time for Lucid and other fledgling carmakers like Rivian. Manufacturing vehicles is difficult enough for a new company without having to fight for a share of scarce commodities.
