Lucid Motors is arguably one of the biggest competitors to come out in recent times to challenge the ascent of Tesla in the EV space. Peter Rawlinson, the CEO and CTO of Lucid Motors was the man in charge of the development of the Model S at Tesla before he left to become the CEO at Lucid Motors. But now, the company is saying that it has delayed the production of the Lucid Air Dream Edition which has been touted as a Mercedes competitor but with electric guts.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Peter Rawlinson explained why the company had decided to delay production of the Dream Edition. Its recent merger via a SPAC with the Churchill Capital team was one of the reasons. Churchill Capital was founded by Michael Klein and former Ford and Boeing CEO Alan Mulally. Mulally's influence seems to be instrumental in the merger as the American is considered to be a legendary executive who was responsible for the turn around of both Boeing and Ford.
The Lucid Air was unveiled at the New York auto show
Mulally advised Rawlinson to perfect the Lucid Air than rushing for its deliveries as electric cars are now more evolved and people will not cut it slack the way Tesla got away with a lot of build quality issues as electric cars aren't a novel concept anymore. It makes even more sense for Lucid Air which is aiming for the premium segment of the market.
The Lucid Air is being pitched like a luxurious electric vehicle
In the interview, Rawlinson also noted that some production delays were caused by the COVID19 pandemic -- it has been chasing over 3000 parts from 250 vendors across the world. Rawlinson noted that it was not running short on semiconductors like Tesla.
Rawlinson didn't give a prompt date for the beginning of deliveries of the Dream Edition, however, he did note that the company aimed to start them by Q3. He also said that the extra $4.5 billion from the SPAC merger with Churchill Capital has given it extra runway which allows it to comfortably develop and build the company for the long haul.
