(Bloomberg) -- Lucid Group Inc.’s chief executive downplayed the significance of US electric vehicle tax credits for the company, even as concerns about the potential loss of subsidies sent the EV maker’s shares to new lows.
Lucid’s $69,900-and-up Air sedan is ineligible for purchase tax credits because it’s too expensive, CEO Peter Rawlinson said Friday on Bloomberg Television. While some customers are able to qualify for a $7,500 credit to lease an Air EV, there’s also a household income threshold that rules out many of the company’s clients.
“Lucid, amongst all the EV makers, is really the most immune from that,” Rawlinson said, when asked about the implications of a second term for President-elect Donald Trump.
Lucid’s stock fell as much as 5.8% on Friday to $1.96, the lowest intraday price since the company’s September 2020 market debut. The shares fell 4.6% on Thursday after Reuters reported that Trump’s transition team was crafting plans to eliminate the EV tax credit.
When asked whether he worried Tesla Inc. boss Elon Musk may get more favorable treatment from the incoming Trump administration, Rawlinson responded: “We’ve really taken the mantle of technology leadership from Tesla right now, and this is not really sufficiently recognized. So, I think we’re in a very strong position to weather any such storm.”
Analysts expect Lucid to sell about 9,500 EVs this year, a fraction of the roughly 1.8 million Tesla is projected to deliver. While the Air is Lucid’s only model currently on the market, the Newark, California-based company just started taking reservations for its upcoming sport utility vehicle, the Gravity, which is scheduled for production before year-end.
--With assistance from Katie Greifeld, Sonali Basak and Matthew Miller.
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