Lucid pumps $1.5B from Saudi wealth fund after CEO warned relying on its 'bottomless wealth' was 'dangerous' | TechCrunch
Saudi Arabia is committing even more money to Lucid Motors as the EV startup struggles to erase its losses. Lucid announced Monday as part of its second-quarter earnings report that an affiliate of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund is committing another $1.5 billion, with half coming in the form of a private placement and the other half as a loan facility.
The deal also further deepens the ties between Lucid and its majority owner, which has already committed to buying at least 50,000 of its EVs in the coming years, and is helping the company build a brand new factory in the Kingdom.
It’s the second time Lucid has turned to Saudi Arabia for more money since Lucid’s CEO Peter Rawlinson told the Financial Times in a March 2024 interview that he was wary of being over-reliant on the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. “If I adopt a mindset that there is bottomless wealth from PIF, that is very dangerous, that is something I will never do, I respect them far too much for that,” he told the financial outlet.
The new funding comes as Lucid announced it lost $643 million in the second quarter of 2024, despite setting a new sales record for its electric luxury sedans that generated $200 million of revenue. Lucid reported it had $1.35 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the second quarter.
Rawlinson described the injection of capital as a “resounding further endorsement” of Saudi Arabia’s long-term commitment in Lucid.
“We are so aligned, this transcends a mere financial arrangement,” Rawlinson said during the company’s earnings call Monday. “We are a cornerstone of the Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 to transition their company to add to a sustainable economy, and we are proud to participate in this.”
He also pushed back on the idea that Saudi Arabia’s interest was waning. “It’s often portrayed, how long is it before Saudi is going to get fed up with Peter playing with his cars?” he mused. “It’s not that, you know, we have regular dialogue. I have with my chairman [Turqi Alnowaiser] and we are absolutely both committed. You know, the dialogue is much more of ‘Peter keeps things on track. We want this midsize, we want these products. Is Gravity on track?’”
While Lucid’s total second-quarter revenue figures show year-over-year growth — on both a quarter and six-month time frame — a deeper dive into the result reveals Saudi Arabia’s influence.
On a regional basis, Lucid generated $155 million in North American sales in the second quarter, a 12% increase from the same period last year. Revenue from North American sales fell, however, when comparing results from the first six months of the year. Lucid reported $269.8 million in revenue from North America sales in the first six months of the year, a 5.7% decrease from the $286.2 million from the same six-month period in 2023.
Sales in Saudi Arabia is what helped close that gap. Revenue from sales in Saudi Arabia skyrocketed 14-fold to $95.2 million in the first six months of 2024 from the same period last year.
Lucid doesn’t just need money to staunch the bleeding as it tries to carve out a market for its luxury sedan, the Air. It also needs capital to help with the upcoming launch of its first electric SUV, known as Gravity. Lucid has said the Gravity will enter production by the end of 2024 and has put its hopes on it becoming a success in North America given the popularity of the form factor in the region. The company laid off about 400 employees, or roughly 6% of its workforce, in May 2024 as part of a restructuring ahead of the launch of the Gravity SUV.
