(Reuters) – Lucid Group Inc first-quarter revenue missed Wall Street estimates on Monday and its net loss widened as sales came under pressure after aggressive price cuts from electric-vehicle market leader Tesla Inc
Tesla’s move to cut prices and increase volume, a strategy which CEO Elon Musk said is part of the EV maker’s recession playbook, has hurt newer entrants such as Lucid and Rivian.
Lucid last month reported first-quarter production and delivery figures lower than in the preceding three months, as higher borrowing costs following the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes hit consumer spending.
CEO Peter Rawlinson said in a statement on Monday the company was on track to produce over 10,000 vehicles in 2023, compared with an earlier forecast for 10,000 to 14,000 units this year.
The company reported quarterly revenue of $149.4 million, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $209.9 million, according to Refinitiv.
Net loss for the first three months of the year stood at $779.5 million, compared with $604.6 million, a year earlier.
Lucid finance chief Sherry House added that the company has $4.1 billion in liquidity, enough to fund the luxury EV maker at least into the second quarter of next year.
Musk has said Tesla is willing to sacrifice margin for sales volume but is also looking to move prices back higher, where it can, to match deliveries with output.
Lucid had cash and cash equivalents of $900 million at the end of the first quarter, compared with $1.74 billion in the fourth quarter.
Lucid is set to unveil its Gravity sports utility vehicle later this year ahead of its launch in 2024.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
