AUTO

Lucid Sells 100,000 Cars to Saudi Arabia

April 26, 2022

Lucid announced a deal to sell 100,000 cars to the government of Saudi Arabia over the next ten years— all but guaranteeing the startup’s future.

The deal isn’t as straightforward as getting paid for 100,000 cars and shipping them out the next day, of course. For starters, precious few Lucid Air sedans have been built— certainly nothing like 100,000. It makes sense then that this deal to buy 100,000 Lucid electric cars covers a ten-year period, with an initial, solid commitment to purchase 50,000 EVs from Lucid, and an option to purchase up to an additional 50,000 vehicles over the same period (and, presumably, at an agreed-upon price).

“Delivering up to 100,000 Lucid electric vehicles in Saudi Arabia represents another pivotal moment in our acceleration of sustainable transportation worldwide,” said engineer Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s CEO and CTO (Chief Technical Officer). “We are delighted to be supporting Saudi Arabia in achieving its sustainability goals and net zero ambitions, as outlined by Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, by bringing our advanced luxury EVs to Saudi Arabia.”

The vehicles sold to Saudi Arabia will include the Lucid Air and “other future models,” according to the company’s official release. That release also notes that the Saudi-bound cars will be built and assembled both at Lucid’s existing factory in Arizona and its previously announced (but, as yet, not built) manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia. The order quantities are expected to range from 1,000 to 2,000 vehicles annually at first, and increase to between 4,000 and 7,000 vehicles annually in 2025.

Lucid first made waves for its ultra-efficient, super long-range Air a few years ago, when a team of engineers completed a 400+ mile road trip on a single charge in a pre-production car. Since then, the company has earned notoriety by breaking some production car speed records and nabbing one of the top spots in the EPA’s efficiency ratings.