It has been well documented that the markets for both new and used vehicles are going bananas, but you might not be aware of that if you work at Lucid, and that could be a bad sign for the electric vehicle startup.
Barron’s reports that the automaker has already taken to offering incentives to entice people into buying their cars. The automaker has sent out an email to customers who had reserved a Lucid Air, but did not turn that into a firm order, offering them an up to 10 percent discount on a vehicle.
In the email, the discount was framed as a chance to reinstate their order for a Lucid Air Grand Touring at their “original legacy price of $139,000.” Following brand-wide price hikes in June, the base price of a Lucid Air Grand Touring is currently $154,000.
Read: Lucid Prices To Rise By As Much As $15,000
On December 1, meanwhile, Business Insider reported that Lucid was offering employees a discount of up to $18,000, if they took delivery by the end of the year. The automaker said that the discount would be credited to the workers’ paychecks, at the rate of $1,000 per month.
Lucid spokesperson Nat Lingo framed this as a way to honor a request from its team to help reward those “who were interested in driving a Lucid Air every day.” The automaker, though, was also offering 14 Lucid Airs for immediate sale on its website with a 2.81 percent annual finance rate for 72 months, much lower than the rate for the average car loan these days, and amounting to another discount.
Used Lucids, meanwhile, are being listed for 92 percent of their original price. While that may seem like a decent rate of depreciation in normal times, that’s currently a pretty poor resale value. Used Rivians are, by comparison, being listed for as much as 132 percent of their original value.
All of which points to underwhelming demand for Lucid’s superfast, super luxurious electric sedan. Although the automaker would not comment on demand, that these steps are being taken when it still has a backlog of 34,000 orders does not reflect well on the company.
Indeed, investors are feeling wary. Since September 13, the company share price has nearly halved, falling from a high of $16.63 to a low of $8.61 on December 6.
