(Reuters) – Lucid Group reported record fourth-quarter deliveries on Monday, beating Wall Street expectations, as the Saudi Arabian-backed automaker benefited from strong demand for its luxury electric sedans.
The EV maker has lowered prices and offered incentives including cheaper financing to lure customers away from cheaper hybrid vehicles amid high interest rates.
The company delivered over 3,099 vehicles in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with estimates of 2,637, according to six analysts polled by Visible Alpha. That represented growth of 11% over the third quarter and 78% higher than the fourth quarter a year earlier.
Production increased by around 42% year-on-year to 3,386 vehicles in the reported quarter, beating estimates by 2,904 units.
For 2024, production increased by 7% to 9,029 vehicles, reaching the company's target of 9,000 vehicles. Annual deliveries increased by 71% to 10,241 vehicles.
Lucid began taking orders for its Gravity SUV in November, in a bid to enter the lucrative SUV sector and take some market share from Rivian and Tesla.
Rivian on Friday topped analysts' estimates for quarterly deliveries and said its production was no longer constrained by component shortages. But Tesla reported its first drop in annual deliveries, in part because the company is aging.
Demand for EVs, already squeezed by competition from hybrid vehicles, could face another challenge as President-elect Donald Trump is expected to reverse many of the Biden administration's EV-friendly policies and incentives.
Lucid, backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, has reduced its workforce as part of cost-cutting efforts, with the EV maker still losing tens of thousands of dollars per vehicle.
The company also raised $1.75 billion in October through a stock sale that CEO Peter Rawlinson believes will provide Lucid with a “cash runway well into 2026.”
Lucid is expected to report its fourth quarter results on February 25.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)