Lucid has received another $1.5 billion investment from Saudi Arabia, the EV startup said on Monday while announcing its results for the second quarter of 2024.
Half of the funds will come in the form of a loan while the remainder will be paid by Ayar Third Investment in return for convertible preferred stock.
Ayar Third Investment is Lucid’s main shareholder and an affiliate of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, or PIF for short.
According to Reuters, the investment is the second from Saudi Arabia this year and brings the country’s total investment in Lucid to around $8 billion. Saudi Arabia’s stake in Lucid currently stands at about 60%.
Lucid Gravity prototype
Lucid said the new funds will provide liquidity into at least the fourth quarter of 2025. The company will use the funds for production of the long-awaited Gravity SUV and also expand the company’s recently established plant in Saudi Arabia, its CEO, Peter Rawlinson, told Reuters.
The Saudi plant was opened last fall and is currently building semi knocked-down (partially assembled) examples of the Air sedan at a rate of 5,000 units per year. The goal is to handle complete production of Lucid vehicles at a rate of 150,000 units annually.
Lucid’s first plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, which also builds the Air sedan, is expected to have an annual capacity of 365,000 units when fully expanded. The Arizona plant is also where the Gravity will be built starting later this year.
Lucid is still a long way from reaching those targets. The company built just 2,110 vehicles in the second quarter and said it is on track for annual production of approximately 9,000 vehicles this year. Last year the company build 8,428 vehicles. The company also reported a loss of $790 million for the second quarter, which was roughly 3% higher than a year ago.
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