Lucid Eye price increases for future models will honor existing reservation prices -CEO

AUSTIN, Texas, March 17 (Reuters) – Electric car maker Lucid (LCID.O) is considering raising prices for future models amid “huge inflationary pressures”, but pledges to honor the prices of existing reservation holders, its chief executive said Thursday.

“It is inevitable that we will have to look at the prices of models that will be released in the future,” CEO Peter Rawlinson said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the South by Southwest (SXSW) music, technology and film festival.

“I think it would be absolutely foolish of me to say that we will never raise our prices,” Rawlinson added, citing high nickel prices.

His comments come as several electric vehicle makers, including Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), Rivian (RIVN.O) and BYD (002594.SZ), raised prices due to rising raw material costs. Read more

In late February, Lucid cut its production forecast for this year to a range of 12,000 to 14,000, down from its original target of 20,000 vehicles, citing “extraordinary supply chain and logistics”. Its shares fell after the announcement. Read more

Rawlinson said Thursday the bottlenecks were caused by suppliers of windshields, carpeting and some exterior trim parts.

“It’s a handful of vendors that are limiting our volume,” Rawlinson said. “I’m super frustrated because we’re not limited by silicon chips, we’re not limited by our ability to make electric motors.”

Switching to different suppliers for these parts would compromise quality, Rawlinson said.

Rawlinson, who previously served as vice president of vehicle engineering at Tesla, said he was not concerned about short-term market reactions to Lucid’s production cuts.

“Customer satisfaction and quality recognition trumps myopic short-term focus on the number of cars we delivered to customers in a quarter,” Rawlinson said, adding that he was working on a 10-year plan.

Reporting by Tina Bellon; Editing by Leslie Adler

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