Lucid reported better-than-expected revenue for the third quarter, reaching $200 million and narrowly surpassing analysts’ estimates of $198 million, according to LSEG data.
The luxury electric vehicle manufacturer, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, also reiterated its annual production goal of 9,000 vehicles for 2023, despite a challenging economic environment.
The company delivered 2,781 vehicles during the third quarter but saw a dip in production, manufacturing 1,805 units. To meet its full-year target, Lucid will need to produce 3,357 vehicles in the last quarter.
Despite high interest rates affecting budgets and pushing customers toward less expensive hybrids, Lucid has managed to draw demand by reducing prices and offering financing incentives.
“We continue to see improvements to gross margin performance as our cost reduction efforts are gaining momentum,” interim CFO Gagan Dhingra stated.
Lucid’s gross margins showed some improvement, coming in at negative 106.2%, up from negative 134.5% in the previous quarter, though the company still posted a larger net loss than a year ago. The firm is under pressure to reduce per-vehicle losses as competitors, including Rivian, have intensified cost-cutting efforts.
In a strategic move to capture a share of the profitable SUV market, Lucid also opened pre-orders for its new Gravity SUV. With this addition, Lucid aims to compete with both Rivian’s SUV models and market leader Tesla.
