Lucid Motors set a company record in the first quarter of 2025 to ship 3,109 electric vehicles to ship to customers in North America, Europe and Saudi Arabia. It seems that the new company's car program and sales to the rental fleet helped it get there.
According to footnotes in Lucid Motors' latest regulatory filing, it costs 300 cars, which is called the "leasing company" for the quarter. Lucid Motors spokesman Nick Twork said in an email that despite the term, the "overwhelming majority" of vehicles mentioned in the footnote were sold to rental companies and rented them to automakers as part of the remodeled company's auto program.
“As part of the normal business process, we just see a good opportunity that is in the best interest of our business, we will take advantage of fleet trading,” he said.
First-quarter sales of the rental and leasing company allowed Lucid Motors to beat the number of cars delivered in 100 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2024, marking a fifth consecutive quarter of increase in the company's delivery. Despite the fact that the beginning of a calendar year is often a tough range for car sales. Industry leaders, for example, both Tesla and Rivian have seen a sharp decline in delivery starting in one year.
Lucid's record quarter comes as the company's years of hard work to build a market for its luxury sedan Air. The company is counting on its first SUV, The Gravity, which it hopes to ship in the second half of this year.
Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff celebrated the milestone last week as the company earnings call began. “Many of our clients continue to tell us that once we’ve experienced soberness, it’s hard to go back,” he said.
It's hard to say exactly how many rental and rental companies' cars were sold. The company refused to break down the numbers provided in its regulatory documents. To date, it has only reported the dollar value of vehicles sold in this way.
Louis said in its first quarter documents that $27.2 million worth of vehicles were sold to "leasing companies" in the first quarter. Dividing sober quarterly revenue ($235 million) into delivery (3,109) suggests that the company's average selling price during this period could be about $75,590, meaning it sold for rent and rental companies at about 360 ev.
Regardless of the exact number, it seems to be a rise. For reference, the company wrote that it sold $34.7 million worth of cars to rental companies throughout 2024. In previous filings, Lucid said it sold $9.1 million in 2023.
While sales may help delivering statistics for the quarter, they don’t seem to affect how much money the company makes.
Elsewhere in the regulatory filing, Lucid said it would not immediately book revenue for cars sold to rental companies because it is obliged to buy back the vehicles later. Lucid had only revenue at the time - even then, it booked only the difference between the initial sales price and the buyback price reached by the rental company as revenue.
Working with a rental company is not a secret sobering heart. The company announced in October 2024 that Germany-based Sixt began using Lucid Airs in its fleet of rental car vehicles. It also entered into a deal with businesses that had less publicity. However, it is difficult to quantify the impact of rent sales on Lucid's overall delivery data until the latest regulatory filings.
Evaluating customers’ demand for Lucid vehicles is crucial as the company’s first electric vehicle (Air) strives to meet expectations for a number of reasons. The company began selling air in 2021, when sedans fell into fashion in North America. Lucid initially focused on the most expensive air version of the first two years of sales.
As these sales gradually climbed, Tesla began cutting its own vehicle prices to sustain its promised Wall Street growth. These price cuts have caused a domino effect from other automakers selling electric cars. By the end of 2023, when Lucid started shipping the most affordable sedan version (Air Pure), it had several price cuts to keep sales competitive.
Former CEO Peter Rawlinson, who was replaced earlier this year after his resignation, resigned from his post in 2023, said: “
Interim CEO Winterhoff has wanted to step up Lucid's marketing efforts since he took over. The company spent $3.5 million on sales and marketing in the first quarter and said in a call last week that investors should expect this to increase.