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Or maybe that is corp speak for let go, don’t care how but be gone
Been there done that
Emad Dlala out
- Thread starter gaskiller
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Precisely. You work for a company you've sweat blood for over more than a decade, dedicated the best years of your career, invested yourself fully and intensely in the mission, then you just up and quit with no notice...?! Not a chance.
I don't know Emad but from what I've seen in videos and read about him, he was passionate about Lucid's mission and is probably gutted to have ended up where he did. There is no way he quit (with no notice!) because he was tired or burned out or throwing a tantrum over not getting the CEO role. That's soap opera drama, not what you get from someone that fully invests themselves into something.
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Apparently Emad issued a farewell & thanks statement today.
If anyone has a direct source to his actual full statement, that’d be great. Or perhaps this captures all the key pieces.
One bit in that link stood out: “Dlala wrote that he had decided to resign from the Saudi-backed EV maker after nearly 11 years, calling the moment the close of “a chapter that has defined my life.”
Obviously, we can parse “decided to resign”, recycling this thread to our hearts’ content! But maybe it’s is simple as that states?
{The link won’t seem to post as a live link. It’s at the spelling-challenged eletric–vehicles site…}
https://****************.com/lucid/...termind-bids-farewell-thanks-peter-rawlinson/
If anyone has a direct source to his actual full statement, that’d be great. Or perhaps this captures all the key pieces.
One bit in that link stood out: “Dlala wrote that he had decided to resign from the Saudi-backed EV maker after nearly 11 years, calling the moment the close of “a chapter that has defined my life.”
Obviously, we can parse “decided to resign”, recycling this thread to our hearts’ content! But maybe it’s is simple as that states?
{The link won’t seem to post as a live link. It’s at the spelling-challenged eletric–vehicles site…}
Last edited:
Emad's farewell message:
Recently, I made the decision to resign from my executive position at Lucid Motors after nearly 11 years, closing a chapter that has defined my life. I am incredibly grateful to help shape the future of electric mobility, but none of it would have been possible without the extraordinary team I had the honor to build and lead. As the finest engineering talent in the world, their drive, growth, and belief will always be my proudest achievement.
From growing up in a rural desert town in Libya to pushing the boundaries of physics and building world-leading products in the epicenter of technological advancement in California, the journey has been surreal. When we first set out to create the most efficient electric vehicle on the planet, skeptics called our targets impossible, especially in a beautifully designed serial production vehicle. Delivering 5 mile/kWh and a 520-mile range, milestones that remain unbeaten many years later, proved once again that “impossible” is usually just an engineering problem waiting for the right team to solve. Along the way, we didn't only build hardware, but we also revolutionized engineering innovation by embedding AI and advanced simulation into our design, hardware, software, and workflows, accelerating our development cycles to unprecedented speeds. Most recently, I was very proud to have led the software turnaround that powers the Lucid Gravity and anchors the future Midsize and Robotaxi platforms. It still feels incredible to know that these technologies made it into multiple award-winning products that drivers love worldwide.
What we built pushed the limits of what’s possible, from the world’s most power-dense drive unit to a next-generation revolutionary platform designed for efficiency, in all respects. Success is truly a team sport, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone at Lucid. I want to particularly thank Peter Rawlinson for the opportunity to join early on as an individual contributor engineer, and for his trust over the years as my scope grew into overseeing all of engineering. Together with an exceptional team, we did far more than develop technology; we helped build a company, raise capital, and create a brand that stands for innovation and performance. I also want to express my deepest gratitude to our customers, partners, and investors for their unwavering support and shared commitment to our vision.
As I move on, I wish Lucid and the entire team great success in their mission to accelerate sustainable transportation. For now, I am taking some much-needed time to recharge and be with my wife and daughters, while exploring my next endeavor. One constant remains: I am still driven by the same core mission, which is to build fantastic teams, engineer revolutionary software and hardware technology, and scale innovative products that benefit humanity and the universe.
Onward
Recently, I made the decision to resign from my executive position at Lucid Motors after nearly 11 years, closing a chapter that has defined my life. I am incredibly grateful to help shape the future of electric mobility, but none of it would have been possible without the extraordinary team I had the honor to build and lead. As the finest engineering talent in the world, their drive, growth, and belief will always be my proudest achievement.
From growing up in a rural desert town in Libya to pushing the boundaries of physics and building world-leading products in the epicenter of technological advancement in California, the journey has been surreal. When we first set out to create the most efficient electric vehicle on the planet, skeptics called our targets impossible, especially in a beautifully designed serial production vehicle. Delivering 5 mile/kWh and a 520-mile range, milestones that remain unbeaten many years later, proved once again that “impossible” is usually just an engineering problem waiting for the right team to solve. Along the way, we didn't only build hardware, but we also revolutionized engineering innovation by embedding AI and advanced simulation into our design, hardware, software, and workflows, accelerating our development cycles to unprecedented speeds. Most recently, I was very proud to have led the software turnaround that powers the Lucid Gravity and anchors the future Midsize and Robotaxi platforms. It still feels incredible to know that these technologies made it into multiple award-winning products that drivers love worldwide.
What we built pushed the limits of what’s possible, from the world’s most power-dense drive unit to a next-generation revolutionary platform designed for efficiency, in all respects. Success is truly a team sport, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone at Lucid. I want to particularly thank Peter Rawlinson for the opportunity to join early on as an individual contributor engineer, and for his trust over the years as my scope grew into overseeing all of engineering. Together with an exceptional team, we did far more than develop technology; we helped build a company, raise capital, and create a brand that stands for innovation and performance. I also want to express my deepest gratitude to our customers, partners, and investors for their unwavering support and shared commitment to our vision.
As I move on, I wish Lucid and the entire team great success in their mission to accelerate sustainable transportation. For now, I am taking some much-needed time to recharge and be with my wife and daughters, while exploring my next endeavor. One constant remains: I am still driven by the same core mission, which is to build fantastic teams, engineer revolutionary software and hardware technology, and scale innovative products that benefit humanity and the universe.
Onward
well, he doesn't seem bitter.
Who knows why Emad left, who knows how much of the software improvements were his doing?
He very well could have been burned out. There's a lot more that will have to be done in the next 1-2 years to keep Lucid competitive, and given how much he's worked over the past few years, it wouldn't surprise me if he just decided it wasn't worth the mental/physical toll to keep working like he has been for the foreseeable future.
People think the PIF is just a sugar daddy throwing money around left and right, but they fail to realize they can be very demanding. You can look at the countless stories on the since failed Line as an example of that. Who knows how much that has driven stress/high workloads within the Lucid organization.
People think the PIF is just a sugar daddy throwing money around left and right, but they fail to realize they can be very demanding. You can look at the countless stories on the since failed Line as an example of that. Who knows how much that has driven stress/high workloads within the Lucid organization.
Team Rawlinson is no more, that’s why he left, quite clear.
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The burnout speculation is what I've been holding on to. And Emad's full statement on LinkedIn, I believe, further adds to my speculation that it was burnout. Especially since he stated resting and spending time with his family. If you've been flat-out for more than 10 years, that takes a toll. And the most sobering words I've ever heard was "It's either your ego or your health".
Judging by the Lucid employee responses to his LInkedIn, I don't think he was kicked out because of the positive words of support from so many different teams, rather it was his own decision he had decided for a while. But as he was closing his chapter in Lucid, I speculate that his final sendoff was to help shape the culture to be self-sustaining on its own, and he could then trust to hand over the reigns to Silvio Napoli.
I'm taking a shot in the dark with this one, but I think the 3.6 rollout was done with him being more on a supervisory role to see how the software culture he shaped can survive on its own. And once he was satisfied with the team handling the 3.6 rollout, he made his resignation official to the wider company, hence the very close timing between the rollout and his resignation.
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Yeah, there's a magic to Occam's Razor that I think is forgotten in this forum
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I’m sure Emad will be missed, whatever the reason. The power train is second to none, and we have all felt the impact of his leadership in the software turn-around with the last three releases. I have huge respect for him.
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If you read the LinkedIn comments, mostly from fellow Lucid employees, they sure seem to imply that he left on his own accord.
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While Dlala gave a bow to Peter Rawlinson, what I found notably missing from his statement was an expression of confidence in the new management team. From speaking of the opportunity Rawlinson gave him to be part of advancing "our vision" for the future of EVs, he went on to thank customers, partners, and investors. Nowhere was there a reference to the new management'a sharing or carrying forward this vision.
I spent decades dealing with departure statements, and often what they omit, not matter how graciously they are phrased, speaks more loudly than what they include.
I spent decades dealing with departure statements, and often what they omit, not matter how graciously they are phrased, speaks more loudly than what they include.
'S Razor is more exciting thoTo be fair, he didn't get the chance to work with Silvio, so don't think he was really in a position to comment on the new management team.
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I would combine these two thoughts. Not to compare myself to Emad Dlala or to make this about me I will provide the following anecdote.
I retired (again) this past November. I took the consulting director job at an industry data / consulting firm several years ago after retiring from an OEM. My boss asked me in the interview how long I planned to work and I replied "for as long as I'm having fun". Fast forward to June 2025. The company was in the middle of working out being spun off from the parent company. My boss asked me to think about how I would want my department to be structured in the new company. After a brief consideration I decided I didn't want to be involved in building a new entity. I was approaching 65 and looking at all of the Medicare / Social Security implications and assessed my various investments and retirement funds and realized that I could retire and not skip a beat. I'm still on great terms with the people I used to work for and with. The company is turning a corner, looking at how to rebuild processes absent the current parent company, looking at new sources for data that is currently provided by the parent company, looking at restructuring staffing. I'm turning around a different corner. I just decided that this rebuild was treading in the "not having fun anymore" phase of the business. Rather than suggest a staffing / process structure that I would not be around long enough to see mature I decided to tap out. I'm still in touch with former colleagues over lunch, over a beer or two here and there and I am perfectly fine standing on the sidelines cheering them on as they craft the new company. I didn't get pushed out. Not even nudged. I didn't stomp off out of spite. I just decided it was time and my leadership agreed and took care of me on the way out. In the meantime I'm enjoying having seven Saturdays a week. Plus I bought myself a really cool car as a retirement present to myself.
I see that farewell message, coming several days after a sudden departure, direclty mentioning Rawlinson and not talking about the Silvio, coupled with no transition period as Emad telling Silvio to go to hell. I just bought stock after the investor day and the release of the highly effectual software updates 
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True, and it certainly applies to assessing Napoli's performance which no one has seen yet. At the same time, Napoli had already been before the press to discuss Lucid's future direction. I'd be shocked if the senior management team of which Dlala is a part would not have been given clear signals of where the organization was going next.
I get the point about Occam's razor, but that depends on knowing which explanation is the simplest. Maybe burnout is a simple explanation. But so is not liking a change of direction. So Occam's razor leaves us speculating just as do pretty much all the scenarios imagined here.
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burnout / getting tired sounds like the simplest between the two in my opinion
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And saying you are leaving an organization to which you have been highly dedicated because you want to spend more time with your family is about as frequent a cliche as any that you will find in exit statements.
It's interesting that it's the same reason his mentor Peter Rawlinson gave for leaving Tesla . . . and we all know what Rawlinson thought about Elon Musk.