Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) shares are currently trading in a range-bound fashion, awaiting the next bullish catalysts now that the company’s first publicly disclosed earnings are behind us and deliveries of the Air Dream Edition have finally commenced.
As per the latest tally, Lucid Group has around 13,000 confirmed reservations for the Air EV. The company plans to manufacture 520 units in 2021, ramping up its production cadence to 20K units in 2022 and 49K units in 2023. Crucially, 2023 would also see the launch of the Lucid Gravity SUV. Moreover, overseas shipments are also expected to commence next year.
Bear in mind that companies do face teething problems as they ramp up production. While some require production line adjustments, others can be rectified fairly quickly. In recent days, some customers who had pre-ordered the Dream Edition Air EV faced inexplicable delays. This is to be expected. Nonetheless, depending upon the severity of the holdup, Lucid Group’s ability to meet its overall 2021 delivery commitment might be affected.
During its first earnings call, Lucid Group’s CEO Peter Rawlinson had reiterated the commitment to deliver 20,000 units in 2022. However, Rawlinson had also identified supply chain constraints as a threat to this target.
Readers should note that apart from isolated anecdotes, there are no reports of mass delays currently. This suggests that Lucid Group’s 2021 delivery target remains achievable for now.
Hot off the press. #LucidOwnersClub pic.twitter.com/nXq7wca6kk
— Lucid Motors (@LucidMotors) November 30, 2021
On the 01st of December, the company tweeted out a picture showing around 51 Air EVs parked at Lucid Group’s Casa Grande facility. Another picture that emerged later on showed around 80 Air EVs. This is a positive development.
Today’s count at Lucid was 80 cars! Glad to see all these cars. They are really starting to pump them out! pic.twitter.com/MVv5yvfYuU
— Bear’s Workshop (@BearsWorkshop) December 1, 2021
However, we still don’t officially know how many Air EVs have been delivered in bulk. Bear in mind that Lucid Group needs to deliver an average of around 8 EVs per day to meet its 2021 delivery target, based on the 63 days between the 30th of October, when deliveries began, and the end of the year. For 2022, this production cadence needs to increase to an average of 55 vehicles per day, assuming a year-round operation schedule.
On a related note, InsideEVs recently clarified a budding controversy related to the Air EVs. The publication’s senior editor recently posted a video of charging the vehicle from 0 to 100 percent. However, some viewers took exception to the fact that the EV’s 118 kWh battery pack consumed 134 kWh of electricity to fast-charge. The publication has now clarified that Lucid Group has not resorted to any underhand tactic. Rather, the discrepancy can simply be explained by accounting for the energy lost during fast-charge as heat.
Lucid Group shares recorded their highest price yet since the merger on the 16th of November, when the stock closed at $55.52. While the stock has now retreated over 12 percent from that zenith, it still retains gains of around 32 percent over the past 30 days.
Source: https://companiesmarketcap.com/automakers/largest-automakers-by-market-cap/
As far as market capitalizations are concerned, Lucid Group is currently ranked as the 8th largest automaker globally, just ahead of Ford (NYSE:F). It is also the third-largest pure EV company, behind only Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN).
The post Will Lucid Group (LCID) Meet Its Year-end Target of Delivering 520 EVs? by Rohail Saleem appeared first on Wccftech.
