Tesla's competitors set ambitious goals to break through the limitations of the electric vehicle field

Tesla (TSLA) is undoubtedly the leader in the electric vehicle (EV) field. Its Model Y has ranked among the top ten best-selling models in the United States and has become one of the most popular electric vehicles. According to data from Kelley Blue Book, Tesla sold about 405,900 electric vehicles last year, ranking behind Toyota RAV4, Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F-Series pickup trucks, showing its strong market influence. However, Tesla is not the only competitor. As the electric vehicle market gradually matures, more and more traditional automakers and emerging companies have joined the market competition, including Lucid (LCID). The Newark, California-based startup recently launched its second electric vehicle, the Gravity SUV, and its first model, the Lucid Air sedan, has also received high praise.

First, Lucid Air's basic models, such as the Air Pure and Air Touring, have been successfully selected into the "10Best" list of "Car and Driver" magazine for their excellent performance and design, and have been praised by industry authorities. Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said that while electric vehicles are vital to the company, his goals for the future are not limited to manufacturing the cars themselves. Rawlinson, who served as vice president of engineering at Tesla, has a vision for Lucid's future that Lucid will not only produce electric vehicles, but also become the "Intel" of the electric vehicle industry by licensing its technology to other automakers.

Secondly, in an interview with Inside EVs, Rawlinson mentioned that Lucid's future is not just to be an electric vehicle manufacturer, but to expand its business into a supplier of electric vehicle technology, providing hardware and software technical support to other automakers like Intel. His goal is to set Lucid's business model as "20% automakers + 80% technology licensors." Although this idea sounds different from the traditional automaker model, it has its own inherent logic. Just as Intel provides processor chips to global computer OEMs (such as Dell and Lenovo), Lucid can provide its electric vehicle technology to auto companies such as Honda and Toyota. Rawlinson believes that with the popularization of electric vehicle technology, especially driven by policies, more and more auto companies will urgently need third-party technical support.

Although Lucid's vision is ambitious, it faces many practical problems. Since the company was founded, Lucid's financial situation has been in a loss-making state. In the third quarter of 2024, Lucid reported a net loss of $950 million, compared with a loss of $790 million in the previous quarter, with a loss of about $357,000 for each car delivered. In addition, Lucid has not yet achieved profitability, and its shareholder, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), has continued to inject funds into it to maintain the company's operations. In the second quarter of 2024, the Saudi fund injected another $1.5 billion to ensure that Lucid's capital chain is not interrupted.

Finally, Lucid's business model and strategy may provide new ideas for the industry. As the electric vehicle market matures, more and more companies realize that relying solely on self-built technology and production models may not be able to gain an advantage in the fierce competition. Therefore, companies like Lucid that provide technology to other automakers through a licensing model may become a trend in the future. Rawlinson is confident about the future and believes that as the global demand for sustainable transportation continues to rise, Lucid will be able to occupy a place in the future market. He said: "People will gradually realize that 'we must adopt sustainable transportation', and by then, Lucid will become an important supplier of technology licenses to global automakers."

In summary, although Lucid is currently facing many challenges, its vision of "Intel in the electric vehicle field" still brings new thinking to the industry. With the continuous development of electric vehicle technology, whether more companies like Lucid will transform into technology providers in the future is worthy of our attention. In any case, the future of electric vehicles is full of potential, and market competition will inevitably become more intense.