Lucid Experiences Executive Exodus As It Attempts To Ramp Production

The Lucid Air is a beast, but designing it and then building it at scale are two different things.Photo: Lucid

Listen, the Lucid Air is great. It’s arguably one of the best EVs on sale right now, at any price. Unfortunately, having a great product is only half the battle, as Lucid continues to find out. According to a report published by Business Insider on Tuesday.

Lucid has been experiencing a recent exodus of executives with departures by:

VP of global manufacturing Peter HochholdingerVP of programs Ralph JakobsHead of Arizona operations Mike BoikeHead of new product introduction, program management David PeelSenior manager, logistics engineering Chris BarberDirector of operational excellence Keith Champion

These executives pulling the ripcord comes as Lucid attempts to rework and refine its manufacturing processes in its Casa Grande, Arizona factory to get it running at full speed. Actual production at scale remains an issue for the EV startup, with it resorting to roping in office staff and using parts from Amazon as recently as April of this year.

While on the surface this seems like a “rats leaving a sinking ship” situation, a source close to the issue claims it’s not quite that dire, and that a series of recent hires which includes ex-Stellantis/Fiat Chrysler problem solver Steven David, will go a long way towards patching any holes.

As another move to boost production, Lucid made the decision to bring its logistics all in-house. Having the logistics and warehouse operations folks in-house and on-site could remove roadblocks to faster production, which CEO Peter Rawlinson is counting on.

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Whatever it takes, we genuinely hope that Lucid gets its ducks in a row and starts building cars at scale so it can begin offering more affordable models. The technology that the company has on offer, combined with the excellent engineering at work, makes for a truly compelling alternative to the big T.

Lucid declined to offer an official statement.