Lucid Q4 deliveries fall 10%; stock plummets

Lucid Motors reported lower sales in the fourth quarter along with full-year 2023 deliveries of just 6,001 vehicles, numbers that sent its stock price down sharply in Thursday trading.

The EV startup said it handed over 1,734 Air sedans to new owners in the most recent quarter, down 10 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2022.

The sales decline in the October-December period came despite sales promotions, lease deals and increased marketing for its luxury sedan that starts at $78,900 including shipping.

Lucid's stock price finished the day down 4.4 percent. Its stock price was down about 25 percent this year and 60 percent over the last 12 months.

For full-year 2023, Lucid sales rose 37 percent as it overcame production issues that hurt sales in 2022. Lucid has repeatedly cut production forecasts over the last two years, first on manufacturing issues that held back output and, this year, on demand weakness that held back deliveries.

Lucid said 2023 production was 8,428 compared with 7,180 in 2022.

Last year's output met Lucid's reduced guidance of 8,000-8,500 vehicles for 2023. Lucid most recently cut its production forecast in November, which had earlier been set at more than 10,000 vehicles.

Lucid reported a net loss of $631 million in the third quarter last year, the most recent numbers available. The automaker reports fourth-quarter financial results on Feb. 21, the company said in a press release.

In December, Lucid CFO Sherry House announced she was leaving to pursue new opportunities.

House, a prominent speaker on the company's earnings calls, exited the automaker before the launch of Lucid's second vehicle, the Gravity crossover, in the hopes of boosting sales later this year.