Lucid Motors slashes 400 jobs ahead of crucial SUV launch

Lucid Motors is laying off about 400 employees, or roughly 6% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring ahead of the launch of its first electric SUV later this year.

The company said in a regulatory filing on Friday morning that it expects to complete the restructuring by the end of the third quarter and that it will cost between $21 million and $25 million.

The new round of cuts comes a little more than a year after Lucid Motors slashed 1,300 jobs.

“I’m confident Lucid will deliver the world’s best SUV and dramatically expand our total addressable market, but we aren’t generating revenue from the program yet,” CEO Peter Rawlinson said in an email to the company. “As always we must remain vigilant about costs. We are optimizing our resources in a way we believe will best position the company for future success and growth opportunities as we focus on achieving our ambitious goals.”

Rawlinson said the cuts will be made to both Lucid’s full-time and contract workers and that they include “leadership and mid-level management.” Hourly manufacturing and logistics employees will not be affected.

Lucid’s restructuring also comes on the heels of massive cuts at Tesla over the last month or so. Almost every electric vehicle company in North America has cut staff this year as the sky-high growth of the last few years has cooled.

Lucid in particular has struggled to find buyers for its lone existing model, the Air sedan, though the company set a delivery record in the first quarter of 2024. In March, the company raised another $1 billion from its majority owner, Public Investment Fund, which is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.