Miss on Q2 2023 earnings as expected but interesting...

[Genghis]

• 150.9M in revenue (miss)
• 6.25B in liquidity (don't need to raise again until 2025)
• started material shipments to SA
• reinforced 10k in production for 2023
• Pure RWD, Sapphire, and Gravity production schedules on track
• Rawlinson quote finally points out that they need to increase brand awareness and drive sales!

https://ir.lucidmotors.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lucid-announces-second-quarter-2023-financial-results-track/

 

[Drendino]

PR in the board room: “Hey guys, I’ve got a great idea. What if we start robust communications with our customers who are on a Lucid forum and employ a whole fleet of them as brand ambassadors? We won’t have to pay them and if we communicate more with them and bring them into the process of non-sensitive information, such as the software improvement roadmap, they will probably help us double our production just from their recommendations to their friends and colleagues.”

The board: “Brilliant sir, brilliant”.

Just kidding, sort of. I am glad to hear that they are going to start working on brand awareness. My GT is the best driving car I’ve ever had and I’m positive that more people will buy them once there is some buzz. I am happy to learn that they don’t have to raise more money for a while. That is huge.

 

[Volund]

The sad part is, what you said is absolutely correct. I don't care to be paid and always go out of my way to present the car to onlookers.

I just wish I had more info, insight and a road map to really convince people of the future, that seems to be the only drawback where people are skeptical about a new car company worth so much.

But with so many sitting on the lot, people jump to the conclusion that they aren't selling and something must be wrong

 

[Rogue]

People are starting to get their heads put on straight. I foresee a dump in the stock followed by 3-4 solid bumps with the upcoming announcements over the next few months.

 

[kerplunk]

So, production seems to be on track. But sales is lagging which is the larger issue no? I thought lucid had a lot of cars on the lot already. Is the 10k going to be pures that are already ordered?

 

[joec]

So, production seems to be on track. But sales is lagging which is the larger issue no? I thought lucid had a lot of cars on the lot already. Is the 10k going to be pures that are already ordered?

Saudi Arabia. I don't think sales had started there yet when that quarter ended, weeks ago.

And yes. If Pure RWD is set to actually start production in the fall, they should pump a reasonable amount of those out before the end of the year. Meanwhile, they have lots of GTs and Tourings to sell, so they likely won't be building many.

 

[JillyBean]

People are starting to get their heads put on straight. I foresee a dump in the stock followed by 3-4 solid bumps with the upcoming announcements over the next few months.

thinking the same. Possible more short term layoffs coming if my golfing partner was being forthcoming on Sunday. Still like it long

 

[OldAg]

I have never had anyone that rode in my car not be totally amazed. Most of them come up with the comment about riding in a rocket ship.
So, how to convey this to the buyers available to afford this EV?
Get them behind the wheel! I am over 300 miles from a Studio, no one in my community is going to travel 300 miles for a test drive even though a lot of them can afford it.
Set up a traveling demo with test drives. Focus on high net worth areas. Tap into local car clubs that have regularly scheduled events.
I took my car to the local car event for our local car club. The typical car club person was an old guy with a muscle car. They didn’t seem too interested until I said over 800 Hp. I spent the time giving them facts about the car. My number 1 message about the car, It’s really fast. They could relate to that.

 

[Genghis]

PR in the board room: “Hey guys, I’ve got a great idea. What if we start robust communications with our customers who are on a Lucid forum and employ a whole fleet of them as brand ambassadors? We won’t have to pay them and if we communicate more with them and bring them into the process of non-sensitive information, such as the software improvement roadmap, they will probably help us double our production just from their recommendations to their friends and colleagues.”

The board: “Brilliant sir, brilliant”.

Just kidding, sort of. I am glad to hear that they are going to start working on brand awareness. My GT is the best driving car I’ve ever had and I’m positive that more people will buy them once there is some buzz. I am happy to learn that they don’t have to raise more money for a while. That is huge.

Peter in the earnings call as an answer to an analyst question said the most effective marketing for Lucid is get more Airs in the wild, so they recognize owners are the ambassadors. But I agree, more communication and more visibility with current owners will better help their cause. Heck, we paid them to be their ambassadors because we love their product that much.

A couple of other things from the earnings call:
1. Doesn't sound like they have another licensing deal around the corner on the call, and they are just focused on closing the Aston Martin deal.

2. Sherry did a great job presenting the numbers and answering the questions on the financials. But Peter doesn't have the flair of a big time CEO to sell big vision ideas when answering questions. He gets too technical in actually answering questions, and he sounds so dry even though he could have given the same answers and create actual excitement to the investors and analysts.

Overall, nothing butter earnings call than what the earnings release already announced. I would have loved to hear from the new CMO about future marketing plans, branding campaigns, and promotional offers to drive sales and delivery.

 

[DeaneG]

I believe I heard that energy storage solutions, including the vehicle itself, were low priority compared to selling and building cars. Very reasonable. Does that mean that V2H is still far away?

 

[MorganB]

I believe I heard that energy storage solutions, including the vehicle itself, were low priority compared to selling and building cars. Very reasonable. Does that mean that V2H is still far away?

My guess is V2H isn't a priority. Lucid has a statistic on how many Lucid chargers have been sold and I'm sure it's a fraction of Airs sold. So it's a niche market to service . Of course once its implemented then the chargers will sell faster but I'm sure the software dev is required both for the car AND the charger and there has been very little movement on the software for the charger. Lots of other features like a more robust dream drive will see vehicles.