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

[HC_79]

N

Rivian launched with two products in the two most popular U.S. market segments: pickups and SUVs.

Lucid launched into one of the smallest market segments: full-size luxury sedans. And it has since emerged that that was not Rawlinson's decision but that of key investors.

To compare the sales numbers of a company making only a luxury sedan to one making pickups and SUVs tells us nothing about how well each company was being run. It only sheds light on the efficacy of their initial decisions about market entry points, and that apparently was not in the hands of Rawlinson or his team.



Why would Lucid need to pivot? They launched with the smallest, most powerful, most efficient motors and the leading power electronics in the industry.

You’re missing the point. It’s not about Lucid changing the motors etc. it’s about how each business leader took decisions based on troubles with the company. Rivian seems to see a bottleneck / problem and moves aggressively to change. Lucid just stayed the course. Everything with Lucid is slow, software features / roll outs, Gravity production etc. Rivian had issues with its initial ADAS suite, changed in on Gen 2 and now hand free is coming in weeks. Lucid said in August last year that hands free would be available end of last year and now it’s later this year. They can’t afford to continue moving slow people will just simply abandon them and settle for another product even though it’s not the best one.

 

[hmp10]

Rivian had issues with its initial ADAS suite, changed in on Gen 2 and now hand free is coming in weeks. Lucid said in August last year that hands free would be available end of last year and now it’s later this year. They can’t afford to continue moving slow people will just simply abandon them and settle for another product even though it’s not the best one.

Rivian sent me an email in August (I forget the year) announcing "Rivian Guides" and saying that I would be hearing from my "personal Rivian Guide" before Thanksgiving to confirm my order details. I never heard from such a person. When I canceled my order more than a year later, I had still never heard from that "Guide" or had any of my inquiries answered.

Just because Rivian says hands-free is coming in weeks doesn't mean that it will. Maybe we should pick this up when those "weeks" have elapsed.

 

[Batteryman]

So they get a triple beat and some self serving analyst thinks Peter leaving is the end of the company, what a load of rubbish!

I’m buying more stock…this will be back up above 3

 

[AZLucidGuy]

Not a chance. First, it would take an extraordinary pairing of personalities for the scenario to work in which a CEO remains in an organization subordinate to his successor, and the chances of landing on such a pairing are extraordinarily remote.

But more importantly, the whole point of removing Rawlinson (if that's the way this actually went down) would be that those calling the shots did not like the way technology decisions were dominating other aspects of the business. Having Rawlinson remain in the organization to push for technology priorities that were unacceptable to the Board when he was making those decisions would be pointless . . . and maddeningly frustrating for Rawlinson himself.

Lucid without Peter is not Lucid. Lucid only has a chance by having superior technology with key man Peter driving that technology. I agree with BoA. Peter is a "key man" to Lucid. Just like Steve Jobs was a "key man" to Apple in the 1990's when the Board fired him. How did that work out for Apple? The subsequent CEO John Scully nearly drove Apple out of business after a 10 year term. Then Jobs returned and the rest is history. The EV business is different and my hope is that Peter will play a larger role in the near future or Lucid may not survive.

 

[BS8899]

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.

N

You’re missing the point. It’s not about Lucid changing the motors etc. it’s about how each business leader took decisions based on troubles with the company. Rivian seems to see a bottleneck / problem and moves aggressively to change. Lucid just stayed the course. Everything with Lucid is slow, software features / roll outs, Gravity production etc. Rivian had issues with its initial ADAS suite, changed in on Gen 2 and now hand free is coming in weeks. Lucid said in August last year that hands free would be available end of last year and now it’s later this year. They can’t afford to continue moving slow people will just simply abandon them and settle for another product even though it’s not the best one.

@HC79 is correct. In mid 2023, about 3 months before I took delivery of my R1S. Rivian asked me if I want to switch from the (Bosch) quad motors to their in-house dual motor. I declined.

Rivian developed their in house dual motor (now standard) to reduce cost and reduce dependency on Bosch (cost, ramp). The dual motors are also slightly more efficient than the quads.

Scaringe was focused on optimizing the business (cost, supplies, efficiency, etc.), not on the slight perceived advantages of the Quad motors.

That's what CEOs do!

 

[borski]

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?

Peter has built an entire team full of incredible talent. That’s who will drive it now.

The real test of a great founder is if, eventually, they can step away from the day-to-day. I don’t know if Lucid was there, but Peter leaving doesn’t mean the company is dead or anywhere near it; the team he’s built matters.

Lucid without Peter is going to have difficulty innovating in my opinion. Look at Tesla. After Peter Rowlinson left Tesla, Tesla has not had any major breakthrough innovations. They are still using the same bulky motors from the Model S developed by Peter. My hope is that the PIF leadership and Lucid Board will recognize this and install Peter as the CTO so that he can directly oversee the future innovations.

Not a valid comparison; Tesla is entirely leaderless because their leader is absent in action and has been AWOL for a long time. I’m not even slamming Musk; just stating the truth.

Lucid will not be leaderless, de facto or de jure.

 

[3rdMotor]

So they get a triple beat and some self serving analyst thinks Peter leaving is the end of the company, what a load of rubbish!

I’m buying more stock…this will be back up above 3

Geez man, atleast donate the money to charity or something. No point in throwing cash away like that lol

 

[hs22]

Do the math, and Gravity ramp and lower priced Gravity Touring wont come till the later half of the year. They sold 10k airs , and with present Tesla hate and more cars on the road, they can very easily double. You forget the Middle East- I'm very bullsih on sales there. Its not Trump world, he cant do anything about Middle East and European sales.

Some facts :
- I am seeing lot more Airs in the SF Bay Area recently which is a good sign.
- Tesla backlash is real and a boost.
- Gravity having NACS charging port and Supercharger access is a plus.

Now the speculative part:
I don't know what the Gravity order books look like but I am fairly sure they have enough that they could do 20K combined this year. But Gravity is supply constrained not demand constrained at the moment. Can they ramp up production on that to get to 20K is the question.

 

[msaunders9430]

For those interested, the transcript of the earnings call is available at https://seekingalpha.com/article/4761970-lucid-group-inc-lcid-q4-2024-earnings-call-transcript

 

[mattrettig]

If we’ve learned anything from Lucid’s major competitor, it’s this: don’t put your faith and hopes into a guy. Put it in the company, its products and mission.

Individuals tend to disappoint or, worse, betray the values you thought you were buying into when you bought their product. I’m only here because I couldn’t stomach the thought of buying a second car from Elon, (I bought a MY in 2022 when he was merely “eccentric”), and I’m glad that Lucid exists and makes a better car than the Model S. I don’t know what Peter is about on a personal level, politically or otherwise, and though he comes across as a perfectly nice guy, I don’t really need to. I do like the tech, product and mission of Lucid, and so I’m glad I bought the car. But I didn’t buy a “Peter,” I bought a Lucid.

People come and go, and they evolve (or devolve as the case may be), and you may not like who they become. Go with the product and direction of the company as a whole. Let the interpersonal drama play out in the boardroom. My only concern is what rolls off the factory line.

 

[hs22]

If we’ve learned anything from Lucid’s major competitor, it’s this: don’t put your faith and hopes into a guy. Put it in the company, its products and mission.

Individuals tend to disappoint or, worse, betray the values you thought you were buying into when you bought their product. I’m only here because I couldn’t stomach the thought of buying a second car from Elon, (I bought a MY in 2022 when he was merely “eccentric”), and I’m glad that Lucid exists and makes a better car than the Model S. I don’t know what Peter is about on a personal level, politically or otherwise, and though he comes across as a perfectly nice guy, I don’t really need to. I do like the tech, product and mission of Lucid, and so I’m glad I bought the car. But I didn’t buy a “Peter,” I bought a Lucid.

People come and go, and they evolve (or devolve as the case may be), and you may not like who they become. Go with the product and direction of the company as a whole. Let the interpersonal drama play out in the boardroom. My only concern is what rolls off the factory line.

Peter is the opposite of 'eccentric'

Met him once and he is extremely passionate about the products and a reason why passionate drivers love his cars.

 

[Gravitas]

In the meantime, I am wiring a few dollars to Fidelity to buy more $LCID.
This price is just too good to pass up.
In the hands of Jenkins, Bach and Dlala, Lucid will be just fine.
Peter built a great team.

 

[AZLucidGuy]

Peter has built an entire team full of incredible talent. That’s who will drive it now.

The real test of a great founder is if, eventually, they can step away from the day-to-day. I don’t know if Lucid was there, but Peter leaving doesn’t mean the company is dead or anywhere near it; the team he’s built matters.


Not a valid comparison; Tesla is entirely leaderless because their leader is absent in action and has been AWOL for a long time. I’m not even slamming Musk; just stating the truth.

Lucid will not be leaderless, de facto or de jure.

Lucid has strong leadership skills and can build and sell cars as Toyota and GM do. However, they have now lost their visionary genius engineer who will help them innovate and stay ahead of Toyota and GM in the EV technology industry. Who is going to take the future Lucid vehicles to the holy grail of over 5 miles/kWh without Peter? Who is going to take them beyond that?

 

[petergottlieb]

In the meantime, I am wiring a few dollars to Fidelity to buy more $LCID.
This price is just too good to pass up.
In the hands of Jenkins, Bach and Dlala, Lucid will be just fine.
Peter built a great team.

I think the really telling thing to watch is if this team stays in place going forward. If they do, it probably means this is the right call, and Lucid still has a good chance to execute its goals in the mid-term future. If not, well, that's a bit scary.

 

[hs22]

The biggest alarm bell for me was when he said they may decide to bring the ADAS development in house. My reaction was HELL NO! We think we've got ADAS issues now, our cars will be slamming into side rails if Lucid decides to bring it in house. They're nowhere near staffed or advanced enough in software development to take this on.

The question is how important is ADAS and more advanced software for sales growth.

Let's look beyond the Innovators and Early Adopters because those are mostly done and won't help boost sales to where they need to be. We need to look for the Early Majority's buying decisions.

If I look at the cars available for sale on the Lucid site most of them including the GTs don't have DDPro. So that's a data point that indicates what people's preference is.
Inference - they are not looking for FSD or whatever you want to call it. They want a car with great range, great build quality and great driving experience.

I met a gentleman the other day at the EA charging station with a loaded Touring who had turned off the lane change functionality and some other things since he didn't want the car to keeping beeping all the time. He didn't know there was a curb rash warning feature. He was unhappy about the bugs he encountered with upgrades.
Inference - Stable software is a must.

... but he still loves the car. When a BMW iX owner walked up to us we both waxed eloquent about the range, build quality and driving experience. An EQS owner stepped out and looked at the Lucids and told his family that's the car he wants.
Inference - "LUCID - Neighbor's Envy, Owner's Pride"

We all want perfection but it doesn't exist.

 

[Gravitas]

Lucid has strong leadership skills and can build and sell cars as Toyota and GM do. However, they have now lost their visionary genius engineer who will help them innovate and stay ahead of Toyota and GM in the EV technology industry. Who is going to take the future Lucid vehicles to the holy grail of over 5 miles/kWh without Peter? Who is going to take them beyond that?

Emad Dlala, SVP of Powertrain.
He was just as intimately involved in the push to 5miles/kWh as Peter was.
In fact, he owns, or is part of group that owns patents on Lucid's motor design.
Now onto 6miles/kWh.

 

[tonykerf1]

Really this stock downfall has been making my stomach turn, I dunno wtf the people there are doing, they have been developing the gravity and unveiled in November 2023, what is the problem with getting the car in customers hands, I mean even prototypes in the showrooms two years later and still nothing, like they need to move their asses or they going to go bankrupt really soon, even devoted lucid fans like myself are getting fed up, like start even doing reservations on the touring edition , they been advertising the air more than the gravity

 

[Batteryman]

I randomly saw an article about the CEO stepping down. I still sometimes check Lucid once in a while despite selling my Air because I want to see this company succeed.
I believe a change in CEO is warranted because something more drastic needs to happen. Despite promises of growth in the past several years, it's still too slow and the massive quarterly losses is not sustainable. Same old story each quarter.

Rawlinson is an awesome and passionate technical guy. I would prefer if he stayed as CTO for reasons BofA stated. I'm speculating that he was forced to step down. IMO Lucid announcing that he is staying as "advisor" is mostly PR stunt to lessen the fire. If he had really planned to "retire" after Gravity launch, then the transition would've been smoother and they should've already identified a replacement CEO. But who knows... regardless I continue to hope for the company's success.

Midsize motor/battery is already finalized, what else is there for Peter to do? His team should be able to address things going forwards. It’s not like Peter was the brains behind everything. As CEO he gives strategic vision. He set the tone for Lucid going forwards.

 

[AZLucidGuy]

Emad Dlala, SVP of Powertrain.
He was just as intimately involved in the push to 5miles/kWh as Peter was.
In fact, he owns, or is part of group that owns patents on Lucid's motor design.
Now onto 6miles/kWh.

Yes, that is great. Thank you for pointing this out. I looked at his bio on the Lucid website. They promoted him to SVP of Powertrain on 2/13/25. Just a guess, but it probably coincides with when the Board was deciding about Peter's exit.

 

[Batteryman]

Geez man, atleast donate the money to charity or something. No point in throwing cash away like that lol

I know when and where to invest, don’t need advice from a know it all…