Battery level… We got some EV earnings this week from luxury-sedan maker Lucid and Rivian — the latter being the first company to deliver e-pickups. While both startups are in the no-gas game, their quarterly results were… different.
Lucid missed sales expectations as deliveries disappointed. It delivered only 1,404 of its Air electric luxury sedans — exactly two fewer than in the previous quarter, though up nearly 2X from a year ago. Its net loss widened by about $200M to $764M.
Rivian sped past revenue estimates and lifted its production guidance after delivering 12.6K vehicles — up 59% from the previous quarter and nearly triple its deliveries from a year ago. Its quarterly loss narrowed to (a still massive) $1.2B.
Electric off-roading… A key difference between Lucid and Rivian: Lucid is more luxury for luxury’s sake, while Rivian is geared more toward utility (think: adventure-focused trucks and SUVs). Americans love the utility life: trucks and SUVs are the most-sold car models in the US (Ford’s F-150 pickup has been the best-selling vehicle in America for four decades). And its F-150 Lightning pickup was its only EV that saw sales rise last quarter from a year ago. Meanwhile, 96% of Tesla’s deliveries last quarter were for its family-friendly Model Y crossover and Model 3 entry-level sedan.
EVs are racing downmarket… Tesla set the standard for e-luxury, but now it’s a leader in EV accessibility, slashing prices several times this year. Ford followed by lowering the price of its electric F-150 by as much as $10K. This week, Lucid dropped the starting price of its high-end Air sedan from $87.4K to $82.4K to keep up with competition. But yesterday Rivian’s CEO said it wouldn’t join the price-cutting race because it's seeing strong demand for its trucks and SUVs.