Lucid Group reported record fourth-quarter deliveries on Monday, surpassing Wall Street expectations for quarterly deliveries, as the Saudi Arabia-backed maker of luxury electric vehicles lowered prices and offered cheaper financing to drive demand.
The company’s shares rose 7.6% before trading began on Monday.
The EV maker has lowered prices and offered incentives including cheaper financing to woo customers away from cheaper hybrid vehicles amid high interest rates.
The company handed over 3,099 vehicles in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with estimates of 2,637, according to six analysts polled by Visible Alpha.
That represented growth of 11% over the third quarter and 78% higher than the fourth quarter a year earlier.
Production rose about 42% year-over-year to 3,386 vehicles in the reported quarter, surpassing estimates of 2,904 units.
For 2024, production rose 7% to 9,029 vehicles, topping the company's target of 9,000 vehicles. Annual deliveries grew 71% to 10,241 vehicles.
Lucid started taking orders for its Gravity SUV in November, in a bid to enter the lucrative SUV sector and take some market share from Rivian and Tesla.
Rivian on Friday topped analysts' estimates for quarterly deliveries and said its production was no longer constrained by a component shortage.
But Tesla reported its first fall in yearly deliveries, in part due to the company's aging lineup.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) first invested in Lucid in 2018, and steadily accumulated more shares until it held a majority ownership when the startup went public in 2021 through a combination with a special purpose acquisition company.
Lucid raised $3 billion from an offering of common stock and an investment by PIF announced in May of last year.
The company also raised $1.75 billion in October through a stock sale that CEO Peter Rawlinson believes will provide Lucid with a "cash runway well into 2026".
Lucid is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results on Feb. 25.
