Abstract:
American electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Group announced that it will produce 2,954 vehicles and deliver 3,806 vehicles in the third quarter of 2026. Deliveries were 852 vehicles higher than production, which the company said was the result of proactively reducing inventory and switching existing vehicles to customers for delivery; production has declined for three consecutive quarters, falling to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2025.
Compared with the same period last year, Lucid's delivery volume decreased by 6.7% in the current quarter; compared with the second quarter, delivery volume decreased by approximately 3.7%. Production decreased by approximately 38% from 4,774 units in the second quarter. TechCrunch reports that the year-on-year decrease in production is 54%, but this is inconsistent with the 3,891 units announced by Lucid in the third quarter of 2025; based on the company's two-period data, the actual year-on-year decrease is approximately 24%.
Lucid said the decline in production was in line with previous operational adjustments. The company canceled the second shift at its AMP-1 plant in Arizona in June to bring output closer to short-term demand, reduce inventory and release cash. The company also said demand for the Gravity SUV is picking up, but did not release production or delivery numbers for the Air sedan and Gravity SUV respectively.
New CEO Silvio Napoli has promoted the company's operational reset, aiming to achieve a $1.4 billion cash flow improvement in 2026, including reducing inventory, capital expenditures and operating expenses. Lucid had previously laid off about 1,500 employees and postponed the release of the more affordable Cosmos crossover SUV to the second half of 2027; the car was originally planned to sell for less than $50,000. Napoli acknowledged that the company had struggled with execution, service and quality issues in the past and said it would no longer rush products to market that weren't ready.
The slowdown in production highlights Lucid's continued difficulty in expanding its customer base for high-end electric vehicles. When the company went public in 2021, it expected to deliver up to 90,000 vehicles in 2024; however, it actually delivered 15,841 vehicles in 2025. In comparison, rival Rivian delivered 19,248 vehicles in the third quarter, setting a company quarterly record; its more affordable R2 model has just experienced its first full sales quarter, but Rivian did not disclose R2 delivery numbers separately. Lucid's third-quarter financial results and operational reset progress will be announced in November.
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