Tesla rival Lucid Motors gets USD 1 bn in funding from Saudi Arabia

Anca Alexe 18/09/2018 | 12:45

Electric car startup Lucid Motors has secured a deal to get USD 1 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which it will use to finance the commercial launch of its first electric vehicle, the Lucid Air, in 2020, according to The Verge.

The news comes a few weeks after Saudi Arabia purchased 5 percent of Tesla and was named as a central player in Elon Musk’s failed effort to take the company off the stock exchange. Tesla’s stock fell by about 2 percent after the deal with Lucid was announced.

Lucid will use the funds to complete engineering development and testing of its Lucid Air vehicle, to construct a factory in Arizona, begin its global retail strategy starting in North America and enter production for the new vehicle.

“At Lucid, we will demonstrate the full potential of the electric connected vehicle in order to push the industry forward,” said Peter Rawlinson, CTO of Lucid Motors.