Lucid Motors is securing an additional $1 billion from its largest financial supporter, Saudi Arabia, in an effort to offset the high costs associated with manufacturing and selling its luxury electric sedan.
In a regulatory filing announced on Monday morning, the company revealed that Ayar Third Investment, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has agreed to acquire $1 billion worth of Lucid’s stock, increasing the Kingdom’s current ownership stake to around 60%.
This new funding comes shortly after Lucid disclosed plans to produce approximately 9,000 of its Air electric vehicles this year, a slight increase from the previous year’s output. Despite losing $2.8 billion in 2023, the company ended the year with nearly $1.4 billion in cash and equivalents.
Struggling to attract buyers for its expensive Air sedan, Lucid has reduced prices multiple times in recent months to stimulate sales. Additionally, the company intends to commence production of its electric Gravity SUV by the end of the year.
Less than three weeks after CEO Peter Rawlinson expressed caution about over-reliance on Saudi Arabia for funding, Lucid announced this investment. Rawlinson stated to the Financial Times that he is mindful of not becoming overly dependent on the PIF’s seemingly endless resources. “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,” Rawlinson said at the time.
