(Adds shares in paragraph 1, CFO statement in paragraph 7 and
background on industry in paragraph 8)
May 8 (Reuters) - Lucid Group Inc first-quarter
revenue missed Wall Street estimates on Monday and its net loss
widened as sales came under pressure after aggressive price cuts
from electric-vehicle market leader Tesla Inc , sending
shares lower by about 6% in extended trading.
Tesla's move to cut prices and increase volume, a strategy
which CEO Elon Musk said is part of the EV maker's recession
playbook, has hurt newer entrants such as Lucid and Rivian.
Lucid last month reported first-quarter production and
delivery figures lower than in the preceding three months, as
higher borrowing costs following the Federal Reserve's interest
rate hikes hit consumer spending.
CEO Peter Rawlinson said in a statement on Monday the
company was on track to produce over 10,000 vehicles in 2023,
compared with an earlier forecast for 10,000 to 14,000 units
this year.
The company reported quarterly revenue of $149.4 million,
compared with analysts' average estimate of $209.9 million,
according to Refinitiv.
Net loss for the first three months of the year stood at
$779.5 million, compared with $604.6 million, a year earlier.
Lucid finance chief Sherry House added that the company has
$4.1 billion in liquidity, enough to fund the luxury EV maker at
least into the second quarter of next year.
Musk has said Tesla is willing to
sacrifice margin
for sales volume but is also looking to move prices back
higher, where it can, to match deliveries with output.
Lucid had cash and cash equivalents of $900 million at the
end of the first quarter, compared with $1.74 billion in the
fourth quarter.
Lucid is set to unveil its Gravity sports utility vehicle
later this year ahead of its launch in 2024.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
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