Lucid CEO says the company didn't know where its own cars were
Tesla rival Lucid has an interesting excuse for its third quarter earnings underperformance.
Lucid, the California-based luxury electric vehicle manufacturer, has revealed that inventory control issues led to lost sales and underperformance in Q3 earnings. CEO Silvio Napoli admitted in an earnings call that the company sometimes didn't know where its cars were, resulting in slow delivery times and lost orders from impatient buyers.
The company only built 2,954 vehicles last quarter, but still had $1.22 billion worth of inventory on the books as of September. This inventory excess, despite lower production, contributed to Lucid's sales decline, which mirrored Tesla's situation when it scaled up Model 3 production. To address its supply chain problems, Lucid has implemented fixes that the commercial team hopes will enable it to sell cars that are confirmed available on the day of purchase.
With the growing US EV market and a recent deal with robotaxi company Bolt, Lucid remains optimistic about the second half of 2026. However, the automaker still faces challenges such as quality control issues, customer service complaints, and a significant loss of $831 million in the previous quarter, despite revenue of just $350 million.
Despite these issues, Lucid's primary investor, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, has committed to adding $1.75 billion to the company.
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