Lucid Motors is accelerating its growth after announcing its first-quarter results for 2022, with $577 million in revenue and 360 Air Dream Edition electric vehicles made at its AMP-1 plant in Casa Grande delivered to customers, plus more than 30,000 more reservations for other models in hand.
The company said it’s on track to meet its production goal of 12,000 to 14,000 luxury sedans this year, despite inflation and supply chain issues that led to a price increase for cars ordered after June 1.
A new building mirroring its initial structure at Thornton and Peters roads has taken shape next door as the publicly traded company pushes forward on its 2.85-million-square-foot second phase, tripling the current footprint on its 590-acre site to add the capacity to meet its goal of producing up to 90,000 vehicles annually by the end of next year.
Lucid has also reached a lease/purchase agreement \with Pinal County, approved 4-1 by the Board of Supervisors on June 27, on 1,366 acres surrounding its factory, valued at approximately $115 million.
The board also approved 4-1 the sale of approximately $125 million in obligation bonds to finance the purchase of the property, which had been assembled from numerous parcels.
The deal is similar to the initial land purchase of 500 acres made by the county for Lucid’s factory in December 2018, giving the company an option to buy after four years. Lucid has confirmed it intends to buy the original site this year.
County Manager Leo Lew said the additional land will “essentially build out the vision of what an (original equipment manufacturer) automotive manufacturer campus would look like.”
Lucid’s estimates project a total economic impact from the expanded acreage of 6,000 direct jobs, 30,000 indirect jobs and output worth $256 billion.
Lucid State and Local Policy Lead Daniel Witt said the company has more than 2,000 Arizona employees and expects to top 3,000 by the end of 2022.
In May, Lucid also released details about plans to build its second factory, AMP-2, in Saudi Arabia. During a formal signing ceremony, Lucid said the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia and other Saudi entities have pledged up to $3.4 billion in financing and incentives over the next 15 years to build and operate a manufacturing facility able to produce up to 156,000 vehicles a year.
When both AMPs (which stands for “advanced manufacturing plant”) are at full capacity they could be producing a combined 500,000 units a year, Lucid said.
