Lucid Motors Pursues Funding, Considers Sale

Lucid Motors Inc. says it needs a fourth round of funding before moving ahead with plans to build a factory in Arizona to make electric cars.

Sources tell Bloomberg News the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company has hired Morgan Stanley to handle the funding effort. They also say Lucid also has approached Ford Motor Co. about buying the fledging company outright, but Ford has put off any such move for now.

Ex-Tesla and Oracle staffers formed the company in 2007 as Atievea, an EV battery maker. The name changed to Lucid in 2016, and the company announced plans to introduce its first EV in 2018. Six months ago it unveiled a production-ready model, the $60,000 Air sedan but said the car would debut in 2019.

The five-passenger Air will have a 400-hp electric motor and be able to travel 240 miles per charge. A fully loaded, $100,000 Air Launch edition will feature all-wheel drive, a 1,000-hp powertrain and a range of 315 miles. Lucid plans to build only 255 of the latter model, which may consitute the company’s entire production in 2019.

Chief Technology Officer Peter Rawlinson told Bloomberg in April the company would not begin construction of a plant until is has sufficient funding to launch production “professionally and with absolute integrity.” The news service says the Arizona factory is expected to cost $700 million.