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After vanquishing for good a supposed "Tesla Killer," Elon Musk is taking a well-deserved victory lap of sorts today as Lucid Group has finally yielded to the inevitable.
That must have been a bitter pill to swallow 😂
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2023
To wit, Lucid Group announced today that it was adopting Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) for its EVs, effective from 2025 onwards. To this, Elon Musk wrote on X:
"That must have been a bitter pill to swallow."
Bear in mind that Lucid Group's CEO, Peter Rawlinson, is widely credited with designing Tesla's Model S. Back in 2021, Elon Musk had publicly cast aspersions on Rawlinson's contributions at the EV giant, declaring that Lucid Group's CEO had only joined Tesla after the production of the Model S prototype and left the company before “things got tough.”
Of course, with EV heavyweights in the US and Canada recently adopting Tesla's NACS in droves, it was only a matter of time until Lucid Group caved in. To the victor go the spoils, after all.
As for Lucid's own future, it remains quite murky at the moment. Against a stated target of producing 10,000 EVs in the entire 2023, the company has so far managed to produce just around 6,737 EVs, including around 600 units that were sent to Saudi Arabia for final assembly by the end of the quarter. This means that the company will have to produce 3,263 units in Q4 alone to meet its stated target - a tall order by any definition.
Moreover, in an environment characterized by a full-fledged price war unleashed by Tesla on its competitors, Lucid Group has been struggling to find willing buyers for its EVs, despite the state patronage from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To wit, the company has cumulatively delivered just 4,267 units. This means that around 2,470 units have ended up in the company's inventory.
A glimpse of the future. Join us at the LA Auto Show 11.16.23. #LucidGravity #LucidMotors pic.twitter.com/HUdzgw3BVL
— Lucid Motors (@LucidMotors) November 6, 2023
On the bright side, Lucid Group is all set to unveil the interior of the Gravity SUV at the LA Auto Show on the 16th of November. The vehicle is expected to enter volume production in late 2024 or early 2025.
