Lucid made big promises for its launch vehicle, the sleek and luxurious Air sedan. And the California electric vehicle startup delivered, with a record 520 miles of EPA range, blistering performance and futuristic styling. Now, the Saudi-backed automaker is struggling to push enough Air models out the door of its Arizona factory to meet the initial wave of demand. Lucid also postponed the launch of its highly anticipated Gravity SUV.
Help is coming with the expansion of its Phoenix-area factory, construction of an assembly plant in Saudi Arabia and improvements to Lucid's fledgling supply chain.
But in the short term, Lucid faces its version of "production hell" — a term coined by Tesla CEO Elon Musk when his California EV startup was struggling with mass production of the Model 3 sedan a few years ago.