Lucid (LCID) spent last quarter selling cars it had already built instead of building many new ones. It made 2,954 vehicles and delivered 3,806 in the three months to September 30, according to its October 5 release and SEC filing. That output is less than half the roughly 6,250 cars a quarter Lucid would need to reach even the low end of the 25,000 to 27,000 it guided to for 2026 back in February.
This was the first full quarter since Lucid dropped the second shift at its AMP-1 plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, in June. The company describes the lower output as planned. It calls the inventory sell-off part of an "operating reset" that it says will improve cash flow by $1.4 billion in 2026.
Electrek reports that the shift cut came with an 18% reduction in staff under new CEO Silvio Napoli. Lucid hasn't given a percentage itself. Its second-quarter earnings release says only that the June US workforce cut should save about $158 million a year. Lucid also said demand for the Gravity SUV "continued to regain momentum," but it gave no figures to back that up.
Thousands of cars built this year still haven't been delivered
The year-to-date numbers tell the bigger story. Add up Lucid's three quarterly releases and you get 13,228 vehicles built and 10,852 delivered through September. That leaves about 2,400 cars built but not yet delivered, even after the third quarter's 852-car drawdown. Lucid doesn't say how many of those are unsold, so some may be in transit, held as demo units or waiting for fleet buyers.
The first quarter accounts for essentially all of that gap. A supplier quality problem with the Gravity's second-row seats held up its deliveries for 29 days, and Lucid built 5,500 cars that quarter while delivering only 3,093. That left about 2,400 undelivered. The second quarter added roughly 800 more, and the third quarter removed 852.
Why the 2026 goal looks out of reach
The February guidance of 25,000 to 27,000 vehicles was a production target, not a delivery target. Lucid reaffirmed it in its first-quarter delivery release despite the seat problem, then suspended it in May while Napoli reviewed the business. Electrek now reports the target has been withdrawn. To hit even the low end, Lucid would have to build about 11,800 cars in the fourth quarter. That's about four times its third-quarter output, on the same single shift.
All of this is happening while Lucid is still losing money fast. It lost $1.03 billion in the second quarter, according to its earnings release, up from $814 million in the last quarter of 2025. The cheaper Cosmos it's counting on has reportedly slipped to the second half of 2027. Rivian (RIVN) delivered 19,248 vehicles over the same three months, roughly five times Lucid's total, according to Rivian's own release.
The next checkpoint is November 9, when Lucid reports third-quarter earnings. Watch the inventory line first. It rose to $1.38 billion at the end of June from $1.11 billion at the end of 2025, so a quarter of selling more cars than it built should show up as a real drop. Then look at cash burn against the $1.4 billion improvement Lucid promised for this year. If neither number moves much, the reset is going slower than the delivery figures suggest.
So is this a smart pause to clear the lot before Cosmos, or the start of a longer retreat for Lucid? We'd like to hear which way you read it.
Sources
- 1.Lucid Group Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1: Q3 2026 production and deliveries · Lucid Group / U.S. SEC
- 2.Lucid (LCID) Q3 deliveries drop 7% as it slashes production by 38% · Electrek
- 3.Lucid withdraws 2026 outlook amid supplier issues · electrive.com
- 4.Lucid Group Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1: Q4 and full-year 2025 results · Lucid Group / U.S. SEC
- 5.Lucid Group Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1: Q2 2026 results · Lucid Group / U.S. SEC
- 6.Lucid Group Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1: Q1 2026 production and deliveries · Lucid Group / U.S. SEC
- 7.Lucid Group Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1: Q2 2026 production and deliveries · Lucid Group / U.S. SEC
- 8.Rivian Automotive Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1: Q3 2026 production and deliveries · Rivian Automotive / U.S. SEC
Reported by the WattsUpNext desk from the sources linked below. Spot an error? Tell us at corrections@wattsupnext.com.
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