(Reuters) – Lucid Group reported record fourth-quarter deliveries on Monday, beating Wall Street expectations, as the Saudi Arabia-backed automaker benefited from strong demand for luxury electric sedans.
The electric car maker has cut prices and offered incentives including cheap financing to lure customers away from cheaper hybrid cars amid rising interest rates.
The company delivered more than 3,099 vehicles in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with estimates of 2,637, according to six analysts polled by Visible Alpha. This represents 11% growth during the third quarter and 78% higher than the previous year’s fourth quarter.
Production rose about 42% year-on-year to 3,386 vehicles in the reported quarter, beating estimates of 2,904 units.
For 2024, production rose 7% to 9,029 vehicles, exceeding the company’s target of 9,000 vehicles. Annual deliveries rose 71% to 10,241 vehicles.
Lucid began taking orders for its Gravity SUV in November, in an attempt to enter the lucrative SUV segment and take some market share from Rivian and Tesla.
Rivian on Friday beat analyst estimates for quarterly deliveries and said its production was no longer constrained by component shortages. But Tesla posted its first decline in annual deliveries, partly due to the company’s aging lineup.
Demand for electric vehicles, already under pressure from competition from hybrid vehicles, may face another challenge as President-elect Donald Trump is expected to rescind several of the Biden administration’s EV-friendly policies and incentives.
Lucid, with support from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has reduced its workforce as part of cost-cutting efforts, with the electric car 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 through 2026.”
Lucid is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on February 25.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shaunak Dasgupta)
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