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Emad Dlala out

Largely due to Emad's leadership, hardware has been the shining star over the years. When he took over software, it was quickly turning into a much brighter spot than it has been for years. Our best case is that the hardware and software on Cosmos is far enough along that the immediate impact of this devestating loss will be overshadowed by all the other idiotic decisions that this company will continue to make. I know! Let's drop the sale/lease prices on the Gravity, and then close the service centers to pay for the margin hit!
 
Buffalo Bob said:
Largely due to Emad's leadership, hardware has been the shining star over the years. When he took over software, it was quickly turning into a much brighter spot than it has been for years. Our best case is that the hardware and software on Cosmos is far enough along that the immediate impact of this devestating loss will be overshadowed by all the other idiotic decisions that this company will continue to make. I know! Let's drop the sale/lease prices on the Gravity, and then close the service centers to pay for the margin hit!
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I am sure they planned to let him go after the Gravity major release. He was probably not aware of that.

This does not bode well for a 2027 Air or a software update for us I reckon. Why would you do a big software release for a car you aren’t going to sell any longer anyways? I haven’t heard a peep about a 27 Air.
 
tarator said:
So, are you saying that excellent cars are no longer a strategic goal for Lucid? Is "Compromise Nothing" obsolete, and the new motto is "It's Good Enough"?
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That could certainly be an interpretation, but I think it's unfairly shallow. (Why take the thing that makes a company remarkable and throw it out?)

I mentioned in another post, but it could be collateral damage. One interpretation of why some of Lucid's business decisions seem boneheaded is that after it works through the decision making / culture apparatus it comes out all mangled. So cleaning house could be a culture reset so that business can make better decisions.

It's not saying anything about how talented an individual is, but more pointing towards a systematic issue that needs to be strategically addressed.

I mentioned I was a huge Emad fan and I'm genuinely torn. It's like your favorite sports team dealing out their franchise players because they want to reset (because evidence showed that they were not succeeding). Very upsetting, but it can happen. Whether it's a good decision or not, only time will tell.
 
tarator said:
But since borski's attacks against me started AGAIN, I am out. Again
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Please. 🙄

I literally said please. If that’s an attack, I’m going to respectfully disagree and suggest you be less sensitive. All I asked was that people (not just you) not make a strawman argument and mischaracterize what others are saying.

This isn’t about you.
 
DreamTour said:
That could certainly be an interpretation, but I think it's unfairly shallow. (Why take the thing that makes a company remarkable and throw it out?)

I mentioned in another post, but it could be collateral damage. One interpretation of why some of Lucid's business decisions seem boneheaded is that after it works through the decision making / culture apparatus it comes out all mangled. So cleaning house could be a culture reset so that business can make better decisions.

It's not saying anything about how talented an individual is, but more pointing towards a systematic issue that needs to be strategically addressed.

I mentioned I was a huge Emad fan and I'm genuinely torn. It's like your favorite sports team dealing out their franchise players because they want to reset (because evidence showed that they were not succeeding). Very upsetting, but it can happen. Whether it's a good decision or not, only time will tell.
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I wonder if a culture shift is “everyone quit talking so much”. There was a lot of communication coming out through Emad, Twork, forums, social media, social events, etc, while at first the transparency was charming but stuff like that tends to turn into people mentioning things (CCCv2 for reward points, for example) then being endlessly and publicly hounded about it.

Eventually they’ve got to just ignore some of the promises they made, and never mention them again. It’s the business way, especially when there is no answer anyone would accept.
 
socktucker said:
I wonder if a culture shift is “everyone quit talking so much”. There was a lot of communication coming out through Emad, Twork, forums, social media, social events, etc, while at first the transparency was charming but stuff like that tends to turn into people mentioning things (CCCv2 for reward points, for example) then being endlessly and publicly hounded about it.
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Being less transparent would be a mistake.

For one thing, it would likely have lost @hmp10 as a customer. Being transparent (and, more specifically, Emad) saved that relationship and (5 car?) customer.

If they pull back on communication, even with the missteps in it, I think that would be a mistake, personally.
 
socktucker said:
I am sure they planned to let him go after the Gravity major release. He was probably not aware of that.
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That would assume that the premature release of Gravity was his idea, which I'm willing to bet came from higher up the food chain. Even so, Gravity's hardware problems paled when compared to its software problems, which pretty quickly turned around under his assumed leadership. Coincidence? Same with the supply chain problems, along with management's decision to not be forthright with Wall Street about them.
 
borski said:
Being less transparent would be a mistake.

For one thing, it would likely have lost @hmp10
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With my cut throat capitalist cloak and wizard hat on, I would say: who cares? He bought 4 Lucids, his experience is so bad he will never buy another one. Same with me. Why not fight me in arbitration? The law is on my side but who cares why not make me prove it. Unless you’re an influencer that can cost us a lot of money, we don’t care. Emad was doing the human thing but it resulted in a very strange situation.
 
Buffalo Bob said:
That would assume that the premature release of Gravity was his idea, which I'm willing to bet came from higher up the food chain. Even so, Gravity's hardware problems paled when compared to its software problems, which pretty quickly turned around under his assumed leadership. Coincidence? Same with the supply chain problems, along with management's decision to not be forthright with Wall Street about them.
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The software guy doesn’t make the fit and finish trash, the constant window problems, the recalled welds, the crooked trim panels, the bunched up weird door seals, and whatever the hell Lucid in car guided meditations were supposed to be. No way.
 
socktucker said:
With my cut throat capitalist cloak and wizard hat on, I would say: who cares? He bought 4 Lucids, his experience is so bad he will never buy another one. Same with me. Why not fight me in arbitration? The law is on my side but who cares why not make me prove it. Unless you’re an influencer that can cost us a lot of money, we don’t care. Emad was doing the human thing but it resulted in a very strange situation.
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Except that wasn’t true. Emad had changed @hmp10’s tune. And it only takes a few of those for a good story, and only takes one popular one for a bad story.

Moreover, the point isn’t to save @hmp10 but to get to the bottom of issues. Inevitably, I’m certain the issues he’s faced are not his alone.
 
borski said:
Being less transparent would be a mistake.

For one thing, it would likely have lost @hmp10 as a customer. Being transparent (and, more specifically, Emad) saved that relationship and (5 car?) customer.

If they pull back on communication, even with the missteps in it, I think that would be a mistake, personally.
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Agree transparency is good. It builds customer trust.

Fundamentally my opinion is Lucid's struggles right now are mostly due to damaged / eroded customer trust. And I think Silvio knows that from his background. So I don't think it's something as trite as that. Clearly Emad was working on restoring customer trust by listening and fixing the issues. That's what doesn't reconcile on paper for me right now. Why can't you make it work out with someone clearly trying to make things better?
 
The one hopeful thing I see here is Marc Solsona Palomar still being there and now reporting to the CEO. Chatted with him a bunch at EVFest this weekend and he seemed to be very knowledgeable and passionate about the Lucid and Gravity specifically.
 
DreamTour said:
Agree transparency is good. It builds customer trust.

Fundamentally my opinion is Lucid's struggles right now are mostly due to damaged / eroded customer trust. And I think Silvio knows that from his background. So I don't think it's something as trite as that. Clearly Emad was working on restoring customer trust by listening and fixing the issues. That's what doesn't reconcile on paper for me right now. Why can't you make it work out with someone clearly trying to make things better?
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Lets look at the dots A, and B

Emad is dot A. Commited to customer satisfaction, transparency, open and honest-maybe too much- but nonetheless, a passionate customer advocate.

New Lucid is dot B. We don't know what New Lucid is doing, but whatever it is, connecting to Dot A is something that doesn't fit their plan.

The new CEO said they want to connect more to the customer, but this does seem the opposite of that.
 
socktucker said:
I wonder if a culture shift is “everyone quit talking so much”. There was a lot of communication coming out through Emad, Twork, forums, social media, social events, etc, while at first the transparency was charming but stuff like that tends to turn into people mentioning things (CCCv2 for reward points, for example) then being endlessly and publicly hounded about it.
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That had crossed my mind today. But if management views that as a problem, they reign in the behavior. Losing someone with Dlala's talent and track record on the performance front could be the cure that kills the patient.

It should be noted that when Dlala was primarily on the hardware side of things, Lucid shot straight to the forefront of the industry in powertrain technology. And not long after taking over the software effort, we've seen the first real fruits of progress on that side.

Rawlinson, too, spoke openly and with candor to customers and the press more than any other auto executive I've ever seen. One of the reasons that Lucid early on attracted the spotlight and praise of auto journalists from "Motor Trend" and "Car & Driver" to popular YouTubers such as "Out of Spec Motoring" and "Throttle House" was the uncharacteristic access the press had to senior folks, all of whom spoke freely to put Lucid's engineering goals and design philosophy into the context of what the rest of the industry was (and wasn't) doing and where Lucid was succeeding and struggling. I had never seen the press brought along for the early development and pre-production ride on which Lucid took them as the product evolved. I still remember videos where "Throttle House" drove an alpha Gravity that had Air seats in it, where "Top Gear" test drove a car with non-operating windows and interior bits off a 3D printer, and when "Car & Driver" rode along on a range test sitting in a Volvo seat stuffed into the back of an Air prototype. That was the kind of being taken behind the curtain that I had never seen in fifty years of poring over media coverage of the car industry.

For example, a remark Eric Bach made once in an interview about the need to avoid the warranty costs of the Air caught me by surprise. Never have I seen such as senior player in a car company openly admit something pretty much every customer and investor already knew or sensed. Rather than alarming me, it further impressed me with just how honest this company could be with itself and with onlookers.

borski said:
Being less transparent would be a mistake.

For one thing, it would likely have lost @hmp10 as a customer. Being transparent (and, more specifically, Emad) saved that relationship and (5 car?) customer.

If they pull back on communication, even with the missteps in it, I think that would be a mistake, personally.
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Amen.
 
hmp10 said:
Why would you say the engineering side of the house needed cleaning? You don't clean a house by tearing out its foundation. The three engineers most responsible for leapfrogging Tesla's leading-edge powertrain technology (Rawlinson, Bach, Dlala) are now all gone.

Lucid had maneuvered itself into a position to rival Porsche on both propulsion and chassis engineering and even now still outstrips it on space engineering. If Lucid can't manage to replace these guys with equal engineering talent, where does that suggest they are going as a car company?
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Creating something from nothing takes phenomenal people and those three gentlemen did exactly that. But, there is a time for a company to take on the growth side of the equation. An example is Tim Cook taking over from Steve Jobs. He was an operations guy, far away from product development and creative. Yet, the company has thrived.

Very different situations, however if you allow me, now that Lucid has exemplary product, they need to improve operations. The boring side of the business. They have already developed the Cosmos, with an even smaller, simpler and more efficient motor - initial development is done, let's execute. Precisely, repetitively, efficiently.

YMMV - which is what makes this forum so great! :)
 
hmp10 said:
That had crossed my mind today. But if management views that as a problem, they reign in the behavior. Losing someone with Dlala's talent and track record on the performance front could be the cure that kills the patient.

It should be noted that when Dlala was primarily on the hardware side of things, Lucid shot straight to the forefront of the industry in powertrain technology. And not long after taking over the software effort, we've seen the first real fruits of progress on that side.

Rawlinson, too, spoke openly and with candor to customers and the press more than any other auto executive I've ever seen. One of the reasons that Lucid early on attracted the spotlight and praise of auto journalists from "Motor Trend" and "Car & Driver" to popular YouTubers such as "Out of Spec Motoring" and "Throttle House" was the uncharacteristic access the press had to senior folks, all of whom spoke freely to put Lucid's engineering goals and design philosophy into the context of what the rest of the industry was (and wasn't) doing and where Lucid was succeeding and struggling. I had never seen the press brought along for the early development and pre-production ride on which Lucid took them as the product evolved. I still remember videos where "Throttle House" drove an alpha Gravity that had Air seats in it, where "Top Gear" test drove a car with non-operating windows and interior bits off a 3D printer, and when "Car & Driver" rode along on a range test sitting in a Volvo seat stuffed into the back of an Air prototype. That was the kind of being taken behind the curtain that I had never seen in fifty years of poring over media coverage of the car industry.

For example, a remark Eric Bach made once in an interview about the need to avoid the warranty costs of the Air caught me by surprise. Never have I seen such as senior player in a car company openly admit something pretty much every customer and investor already knew or sensed. Rather than alarming me, it further impressed me with just how honest this company could be with itself and with onlookers.



Amen.
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That's what attracted me to Lucid as well, a fresh take, honesty and the willingness to push the envelope instead of being just another car company.

But here we are. You can have great authentic people, with the right motivations and great talent. But at the end of the day you need to put runs on the board. And putting the runs on the boards with respect to scaling successfully is clearly not something they've accomplished - otherwise we wouldn't be here right now.
 
tmichael said:
Creating something from nothing takes phenomenal people and those three gentlemen did exactly that. But, there is a time for a company to take on the growth side of the equation. An example is Tim Cook taking over from Steve Jobs. He was an operations guy, far away from product development and creative. Yet, the company has thrived.

Very different situations, however if you allow me, now that Lucid has exemplary product, they need to improve operations. The boring side of the business. They have already developed the Cosmos, with an even smaller, simpler and more efficient motor - initial development is done, let's execute. Precisely, repetitively, efficiently.

YMMV - which is what makes this forum so great! :)
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I am not saying that engineers should necessarily run a car company. But losing them to the organization or subordinating their role too severely is fraught with risk.

There was wide consensus among observers of the Big Three in the latter half of the last century that the primary reason they descended into the product mediocrity -- and financial crises -- of the 70's and 80's was the general clearing out of engineers from the C Suites and replacing them with bean counters. With that came Cadillac's loss of the arguably legitimate claim to be the "standard of the world" in automotive engineering to slapping chromed plastic and a vinyl roof on a Chevy Cavalier to become the standing joke of the industry.
 
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