Lucid new CEO: Silvio Napoli

Any stock movement is just noise at this point as Lucid's story has not fundamentally changed much in the past couple of years.

With this new funding and expectations that margins will improve over the next few quarters, Lucid probably has enough cash until late 2027 or early 2028. In other words they have time for their story to fully play out.
The fundamental change is that other companies are catching up and the midsize will be just one of the many entrants in a market with many offerings. With the new funding they might have the MONEY, but not necessarily the time for their story to play out.
 
...Yes, Lucid might sell more cars. But I was stunned to learn that Waymo, as successful as they have been, only has 1,200 iPace....
Uber has approximately 10 million drivers. That's the existing market that robotaxis will eat into.
 
The fundamental change is that other companies are catching up and the midsize will be just one of the many entrants in a market with many offerings. With the new funding they might have the MONEY, but not necessarily the time for their story to play out.
This is not a fundamental change. It would've been unrealistic to think the only company that could ever make a decent EV was Tesla or [insert other EV-only manufacturer]. Lucid will have to compete like every other company. From what I've seen with the Air and Gravity, I don't have reason to believe they won't be able to have a strong offering with their Cosmos and subsequent midsize vehicles.
 
Lotta CapEx spent on factories in the past few years for a company that doesn't want to be a car company any longer.

And Lucid has been talking the licensing game since early days with Rawlinson at the helm, and it's gone nowhere. No takers from the major auto houses. Aston Martin deal dead. Genesis convertible talk never grew legs.

Service Centers imploding under load from an SUV that was supposed to bring Lucid to a larger market but was released prematurely with horrendous and continuing software issues.

Stock at $8.21.

I read this thread in search of a few flickers of hope for keeping one of the world's best auto engineering and design houses alive. But the sounds of the ventilator and heart monitor are distracting.
Did you watch the Bloomberg video? They didn’t even get the new CEO a suit that fit, and he was very dodgy and full of non answers. It wasn’t a good look. He was retired, hand picked by PIF (a bit cagey when asked about it), I’m telling you this guy is here to launch the Atlas and close the company down.
 
Totally get why a lot of folks are losing hope here, but as mentioned above, it's important to remember that Lucid's stock was never going to look good until they started ramping up sales significantly and they started approaching profitability.

Gravity production only recently started ramping in Q4 and it's frankly too early to tell how much demand there is for it. As we know by looking at Rivian, which is doing better than Lucid but still struggling financially, even if Lucid starts selling 50k-60k vehicles, that will not be enough.

That takes us to midsize. They were never going to achieve profitability until midsize production and sales fully ramped. We don't even know what the midsize will look like yet, let alone it's specs. Any stock movement is just noise at this point as Lucid's story has not fundamentally changed much in the past couple of years.

With this new funding and expectations that margins will improve over the next few quarters, Lucid probably has enough cash until late 2027 or early 2028. In other words they have time for their story to fully play out.

I didn't expect the Gravity to make Lucid profitable. I did expect it to broaden public familiarity with Lucid as a superb engineering and design house and to set the stage for the later move into the true mass market.

What we instead got was a vehicle released prematurely and put into the hands of major auto reviewers who, like early owners, were plagued with software problems ranging from the annoying to, at times, dangerous . . . and who said so unabashedly.

I'm pretty sure the engineers and designers at Lucid are going to deliver a mid-size product with great mechanical bones, class-leading room and comfort, and alluring styling.

But if this new CEO doesn't bend his efforts first and foremost to making absolutely sure that the user software works -- AND WORKS FROM THE START -- before the car is put in the hands of the public, Lucid and its stockholders can all kiss their asses goodbye.
 
Uber has approximately 10 million drivers. That's the existing market that robotaxis will eat into.
Of course! I don't doubt Uber knows what they are doing. They did their math. They know if they can get to self-drive Ubers, they will make a whole lot more money!

My concern is, does Lucid know what they are committing to? Does Lucid have the resources and wherewithal to pull of both the Uber agenda and the mid-size market?

Irrespective of the car technology, the ability to proliferate self-drive taxis to unmapped area is still a big challenge. Even today, I cannot get a self-driven Waymo to pick me up in Marin County to go to SFO. Why? It isn't mapped yet AND, the GG Bridge reconfigures itself (# North-Bound vs South-Bound lanes) depending on the traffic and time-of-day!

Point is, it will take longer than you think. I am ALL FOR TECHNOLOGY. But, there is always REALITY. And, as (the late) Robin Williams exclaims (as Mork), "Reality, what a concept!!"
 
Did you watch the Bloomberg video? They didn’t even get the new CEO a suit that fit, and he was very dodgy and full of non answers. It wasn’t a good look. He was retired, hand picked by PIF (a bit cagey when asked about it), I’m telling you this guy is here to launch the Atlas and close the company down.

No, I didn't watch it. I've pretty much lost interest in what Lucid does on the staffing front except in the software arena. That is what is going to kill this company if not gotten in hand . . . and quickly.
 
I didn't expect the Gravity to make Lucid profitable. I did expect it to broaden public familiarity with Lucid as a superb engineering and design house and to set the stage for the later move into the true mass market.

What we instead got was a vehicle released prematurely and put into the hands of major auto reviewers who, like early owners, were plagued with software problems ranging from the annoying to, at times, dangerous . . . and who said so unabashedly.

I'm pretty sure the engineers and designers at Lucid are going to deliver a mid-size product with great mechanical bones, class-leading room and comfort, and alluring styling.

But if this new CEO doesn't bend his efforts first and foremost to making absolutely sure that the user software works -- AND WORKS FROM THE START -- before the car is put in the hands of the public, Lucid and its stockholders can all kiss their asses goodbye.
I think you're exactly right and it seems we agree on the fact that all we can really do is wait and hope that they're able to execute when the time comes. In other words, no need to panick because of where the stock price sits.
 
I don't doubt the benefit Uber gets. On a recent (6+mo ago) ride on an Uber from SFO to Marin, the Uber driver told me Uber takes more than 65% of the fare. The car owner/driver get sthe 35% but have to pay for all the expenses including bridge toll etc.. I don't doubt that an autonomous Uber would be beneficial to Uber.

Yes, Lucid might sell more cars. But I was stunned to learn that Waymo, as successful as they have been, only has 1,200 iPace.


35,000 Gravities would be nice. But, is it real? How does it juxtapose with Waymo's actual data? Does it jive with reality? What resources does Lucid have to commit to make this real (for Uber)? Does it take away from Lucid's core business requirements?

I am, in no way, pu-pu'ing on the Uber opportunity. I am asking the question in the context of whether Lucid is actually resourced to deliver the Uber vision AND, at the same time, prevail in the mid-size market.
I don't think the Uber deal will take away from Lucid's core business requirements. From what I recall, the robotaxis are assembled on the same line as the regular Gravities. So this tells me they have the efficient use of space and tooling to support both the Gravity's regular deliveries and the robotaxi deliveries.

Will the midsize-based robotaxis also be on the same assembly line as Cosmos/Earth? I don't think we have enough information on that yet
 
Did you watch the Bloomberg video? They didn’t even get the new CEO a suit that fit, and he was very dodgy and full of non answers. It wasn’t a good look. He was retired, hand picked by PIF (a bit cagey when asked about it), I’m telling you this guy is here to launch the Atlas and close the company down.
Don't let his age or retirement fool you. Dr. John B. Goodenough, the godfather of the lithium-Ion Battery, died at the age 100. Even during his 90s, he was still active and received the Nobel Prize at 97.
 
I don't think the Uber deal will take away from Lucid's core business requirements. From what I recall, the robotaxis are assembled on the same line as the regular Gravities. So this tells me they have the efficient use of space and tooling to support both the Gravity's regular deliveries and the robotaxi deliveries.

Will the midsize-based robotaxis also be on the same assembly line as Cosmos/Earth? I don't think we have enough information on that yet
I am not worried about the HW manufacturing side of Lucid RE: robotaxi. For the next couple of years, I think the burden will be on the SW/Validation side. My question is, is Lucid capable of servicing the competitive requirements of ramping the mid-size and robo-taxi?!
 
Last year they said they weren't going to be a car company anymore, they just wanted to license their tech and software.

Is that still the goal?
That comment was taken out of context and got corrected on the earnings call that took place after.
 
If I was an investor, I would worry about the choice of the new CEO. I am not, and I am pretty sure I'll survive the remaining two years of my lease.

I don't think it is likely Lucid will be viable then, but I'll reconsider again.
Lucid doesn’t need an engineer or software CEO. Right now, they need someone who can help them expand internationally.

What’s the point having a young inexperienced CEO who posts hype all the time?

We had an engineer and look where he got us?

You need someone who understands supply chain, logistics, manufacturing and has international contacts.

People think, hey, look at Tesla and Rivian, we need someone young and hip? That’s not what Lucid needs right now. They need EXPERIENCE!

Seems like a reasonable pick.
 
Sure, in an absolute sense that's only $1.21 off $7. But people normally think about stock price moves in percentage terms, and today would had to have seen a decline roughly 3 times larger than what actually occurred for the stock to hit $7.

While I realize that no one really ever knows exactly what moves a stock's price, I continue to think that Q1 results and dilution account for the recent decline, and see little reason to think that the Napoli announcement is driving it.
Stock actually went up until they announced dilution!
 
Did you watch the Bloomberg video? They didn’t even get the new CEO a suit that fit, and he was very dodgy and full of non answers. It wasn’t a good look. He was retired, hand picked by PIF (a bit cagey when asked about it), I’m telling you this guy is here to launch the Atlas and close the company down.
Give him a chance, what do you know about him? NOTHING!

Going of how his suit fits, it’s not a glamour show!
 
Lucid doesn’t need an engineer or software CEO. Right now, they need someone who can help them expand internationally.

What’s the point having a young inexperienced CEO who posts hype all the time?

We had an engineer and look where he got us?

You need someone who understands supply chain, logistics, manufacturing and has international contacts.

People think, hey, look at Tesla and Rivian, we need someone young and hip? That’s not what Lucid needs right now. They need EXPERIENCE!

Seems like a reasonable pick.
I think Lucid need to sell cars which they are not able to keepup. They just spinning up numbers and that game died in the Q1 this year.

Fix software, make it cheap and sell more and more.

I have issues with software and Lucid decided to send me mobile teach 65miles to my home even after mentioned its software and he couldn't help me. After service test droving 130 miles to and fro, spending total 5hrs on my job including his drive. He has to say i have nothing to help. This mobile techs working their ass out and software still sucks and Lucid is bleeding so much money.

Also, i asked them why cant they check the logs remote. Their simple answer to me is we cannot do this one thing for everything i ask 😂
 
I am not worried about the HW manufacturing side of Lucid RE: robotaxi. For the next couple of years, I think the burden will be on the SW/Validation side. My question is, is Lucid capable of servicing the competitive requirements of ramping the mid-size and robo-taxi?!
Having watched Cory Steuben's (Director of Cost Engineering and former assistant chief engineer to the midsize program) interview on Munro Live, I think they're well-poised to take on the midsize and robotaxi ramp-up. Before you jump at me and ask why would cost engineering affect software, I suggest watching the interview if you haven't yet. Cory walked through examples where the cost engineering helped re-think the software side (e.g. wake-up protocols)
 
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