This week, 1,300 people from Lucid Motors will find out that they are losing their jobs. This luxury electric car maker made an announcement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission explaining that they are laying off 18% of their workers in order to save money. They plan to finish up this process of letting people go by the end of June.
Lucid’s CEO, Peter Rawlinson, just sent out a memo and said that they will be letting people go, which includes both employees and contractors. They are cutting staff from all the U.S offices and even some of their managers will be among those who get laid off. Before this time, Lucid had made an effort to reduce their spending after announcing their 2022 financial goals in February – but this wasn’t sufficient for them to keep within budget.
Lucid, a company that produces electric vehicles, saw an increase in its income from last year. Even so, it couldn’t meet analysts’ predictions. They were hoping for more than twice the number of cars Lucid promised to make by 2023. The reason for this is people buying cheaper cars from other companies like Tesla or large car makers. These cheaper EV options make it difficult for startups like Lucid and Rivian to sell cars. To manage, Rivian had to cut down their staff by 6 percent last February.
Lucid said that it will spend around $24 million to $30 million for its layoffs. This money will be used for severance payments, health insurance plans, and stocks for those workers who were affected from the layoffs. Even so, Lucid still has plans of expanding internationally and producing more vehicles such as a three-row electric SUV that should be available in 2024.
