"Announced CEO transition..." Rawlinson out as CEO

[DrZorro]

I definitely think Peter was pushed out. If he was resigning on his own, he would have been on the earnings call to say "thanks" and "goodbye" and probably would have stayed until his role(s) could be filled for a smoother transition. Anytime there's an "interim CEO," things happened quickly. Right now, I'm not sure who's driving the ship. I also doubt he would have voluntarily left after only signing off on 2 of the 3 midsize variants. Hopefully he left a good framework to work with in the near-term to get Gravity going.

Anyways, as for other OEM partnerships mentioned on the call... I couldn't help but wonder if Nissan might be an interesting one. Nissan is circling the drain and probably needs some help with design and EV tech---and Lucid could certainly benefit from their manufacturing experience and parts bin. Food for thought, I guess. That being said, you can't tie two turkeys together and get an eagle.

 

[GMan]

When you’re a CEO and CTO and told “we don’t want you as CEO but would you be willing to stay as CTO” most people in those positions would probably choose to leave vs looking like they failed and got demoted.

Given how abrupt it was, Peter certainly didn’t resign. Let’s not open the rabbit hole of health issues.

Frankly, offering a CTO role would have been an insult and highly likely to never have even been considered by the board. You just do not do that at these levels.

Personally, i'd have wanted him to stay as CTO, albeit it would never happen

 

[HC_79]

I disagree....if it was any other CEO, Lucid's would not have been the technological marvel that they are. Other CEO's would have cut costs, rushed the product and releases a half baked product like every other car. Peter had a vision for Lucid as a company and stuck by it. You have to understand one of the main reasons cars didn't sell as expected was Covid supply chain issues, inflation ( worst time to start a new company that needs heavy capital) hate from Tesla fanboys and Elon Muck and EV negativity. Agree software wasnt the greatest initially, but Peter improved that a lot and it should be even better with the Gravity. Peter's persistence and leadership gave us these vehicles.

He was a great CEO and a greater CTO! Lucid would be zero without Peter!

Rivian had no issues pumping out more cars facing the same challenges and similar price points.

 

[sdlucid]

Rivian had no issues pumping out more cars facing the same challenges and similar price points.

Rivian bought an existing plant. Lucid started out from zero

 

[Andretex]

I agree. The sudden resignation is odd. If he was going to step down in a planned fashion he would have stayed on while the committee interviews new CEOs. Looks like something did not go right.

 

[Batteryman]

Rivian had no issues pumping out more cars facing the same challenges and similar price points.

Maybe this was the reason Peter is gone?

 

[lambo]

A victim of Gravity?

Too soon?

Personally I will miss Peter’s technical excellence and attention to detail. Hopefully his spirit will live on.

 

[sri]

Seems market is not liking it. Dont know what happens next.

Said so, its down 5%. As an investor this is bad

 

[nadecir]

Bank of America with a downgrade this morning.

LUCID MOTORS $LCID downgraded to 'Underperform' (from Neutral) at Bank of America, with a $1.00 price-target (from $3.00):

"Lucid’s (LCID) founder, CEO, and CTO, Peter Rawlinson is much more consequential than understood by the market. He was instrumental in developing the current and future vehicles along with much of the proprietary powertrain technology. We now expect product development to stall, consumer demand to be dampened, and anticipate additional funding opportunities could be put at risk. For this reason, we cut our estimates of future product volumes and adjust our PO from $3 to $1.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

Bank of America with a downgrade this morning.

LUCID MOTORS $LCID downgraded to 'Underperform' (from Neutral) at Bank of America, with a $1.00 price-target (from $3.00):

This one will hurt. That said, and as a general rule, I think it's just about impossible to rely on the after/pre market movement of any heavily shorted and thinly traded stock. They are too easy for large interest groups to manipulate short term.

 

[illopp00]

aren't most of the volume (85+%) related to leases?

All those leases are based on inclusion of the $7500 tax credit loophole. So the effective sales price is lower.

 

[nadecir]

More from Bank of America's downgrade:

In addition to leading the company, Peter Rawlinson was largely responsible for assembling the Lucid team, which may increase the likelihood of additional departures. We note that LCID in prior public filings stated that Rawlinson was a key member, and that it is “highly dependent on the services of Peter Rawlinson” who “is a significant influence on and driver of our technology development and business plan.”

Future funding becomes more precarious in our view, the fact that the current CEO is serving on an interim basis and that there is a brand-new CFO further complicates the potential of raising incremental funding. Note that at its current run-rate LCID has capital to continue operations until 2H:26, but will have to explore additional capital raises well before then.

Future product development impaired Future products may be delayed or never come to fruition, putting longer-term volumes at risk. For this reason, we cut our volume estimates, pushing out the timing of achieving positive gross profit.

We had been particularly optimistic about the Mid-size platform launch in 2026 (called the Space), which in our view would have helped the company achieve scale. However, the completion of that product and others in the future are highly suspect. Furthermore, given the current turmoil at the company, well informed consumers may opt to purchase other EVs, putting volumes at further risk."

 

[BS8899]

More from Bank of America's downgrade:

In addition to leading the company, Peter Rawlinson was largely responsible for assembling the Lucid team, which may increase the likelihood of additional departures. We note that LCID in prior public filings stated that Rawlinson was a key member, and that it is “highly dependent on the services of Peter Rawlinson” who “is a significant influence on and driver of our technology development and business plan.”

Future funding becomes more precarious in our view, the fact that the current CEO is serving on an interim basis and that there is a brand-new CFO further complicates the potential of raising incremental funding. Note that at its current run-rate LCID has capital to continue operations until 2H:26, but will have to explore additional capital raises well before then.

Future product development impaired Future products may be delayed or never come to fruition, putting longer-term volumes at risk. For this reason, we cut our volume estimates, pushing out the timing of achieving positive gross profit.

We had been particularly optimistic about the Mid-size platform launch in 2026 (called the Space), which in our view would have helped the company achieve scale. However, the completion of that product and others in the future are highly suspect. Furthermore, given the current turmoil at the company, well informed consumers may opt to purchase other EVs, putting volumes at further risk."

Sad, but true!

 

[tonybot]

Sad, but true!

I trimmed half of my position yesterday after hours and then some this morning. Will decide about the rest in the coming days.

 

[HC_79]

Said so, its down 5%. As an investor this is bad

Part of the issue isn’t just Peter’s ouster, but also the companies ability to deliver not just for Gravity but future models. Investors are losing faith, and while Lucid management can argue that it’s all about getting quality right, for every day that passes without deliveries, it’s a lost opportunity. Marc was directly asked about the slowness of Gravity ramp up and the cancellations of orders, and the answer was essentially, “We have ample orders for Gravity, so if we lose customers, so be it.” it was said in a more diplomatic way but It’s a bit arrogant, especially for a company this young. Every order should count. Lucid has the arrogance of Apple but lacks the brand awareness and revenue to support it.

Furthermore, R2 will be entering production early 2026, while Lucid will only announce the mid-market version and begin production late 2026. Considering the Gravity ramp-up, Rivian will essentially have an 18-month head start over Lucid. Lucid probably needed to launch in similar timeframes to compete for new customers where both brands could battle it out.

Moving Peter on is their least concern at the moment. Lucid needs to act swiftly and efficiently. The competition in these markets is intensifying, and while they may have the best efficiency and technology, people won’t hesitate to choose other options when they have more choices available rather than wait for Lucid to get its act together.

 

[hmp10]

Rivian had no issues pumping out more cars facing the same challenges and similar price points.

Rivian launched with motors and other technology components it bought from suppliers. Lucid engineered virtually every technology component of the Air in house, breaking new technology ground with many of them. Rivian brought to the market innovative applications of largely-existing technology in fairly conventional body shells. Lucid brought not only ground-breaking technology, but a ground-up rethinking of what could be achieved with passenger/cargo space in a given volume.

Not since the original Model S has a car company climbed as high a mountain with a new product introduction. People sometimes forget that there was as much -- or even more -- market buzz around the introduction of the Fisher Karma as there was around the Model S back in 2010-2012. The Karma landed with a dull thud while the Model S snagged the "Car of the Year" award, seized the market's imagination, and got the world thinking differently about electric cars. And that was Peter Rawlinson's doing, not Elon Musk's.

As for Rivian having no issues, I held my R1S Launch Edition reservation for over four years before finally giving up after months of being told I would be contacted by a "Rivian Guide" to confirm my order -- a contact that never came -- and having phone calls and emails not returned about the status of my order. I reserved my Air Dream Edition several months after I placed the Rivian reservation, and I took delivery of my Air several months before I finally dropped the Rivian reservation.

 

[illopp00]

Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson steps down | TechCrunch

Lucid Motors is changing CEOs for the first time in nearly six years. The company announced Tuesday that Peter Rawlinson is stepping down from the CEO and

techcrunch.com

He is pretty locked up with Lucid for 24 months based on this. 120K a month contracting salary, 2MM shares. They want him around. I am wondering if there is a bigger company restructuring in play, like a merger or reformatting to a partner with manufacturing scale. IE PIF wants to form a bigger automotive conglomerate with various car companies, parts suppliers and technology...

 

[hmp10]

I am wondering if there is a bigger company restructuring in play, like a merger or reformatting to a partner with manufacturing scale. IE PIF wants to form a bigger automotive conglomerate with various car companies, parts suppliers and technology...

KSE is looking to build an in-country industrial/manufacturing base as part of its strategy to move away from an oil-based economy. That is why they mandated that Lucid build a factory there to supply Middle Eastern and European markets. I suspect they are less interested in farming manufacturing out to a non-Saudi source.

 

[AZLucidGuy]

Have you ever met Peter? There is ZERO chance he abandoned Lucid. No fucking way!

I have met Peter. He IS Lucid. The company NEEDS him. He IS the visionary genius. Sure, others can probably do a better job of ramping up Gravity and Air, but for midsize and future products, Lucid NEEDS Peter to create the "next" innovation. Peter has spoken of the Holy Grail being 5 miles/kWh. Who is going to drive this now? How will they get to 6 miles/kWh in the future before competitors do?

 

[Buffalo Bob]

I wonder about how different a position we would be in right now if Peter had been allowed to launch an SUV as Lucid's first product, which (as I understand it) he pretty much begged to board and the PIF to approve.