On Thursday, Lucid Motors, a California based electric vehicle maker, announced that it will be laying off 18 percent of its workforce of approximately 2,000 employees as part of a restructuring effort. This decision follows a period of rapid growth for Lucid as the company attempts to become a major player in the EV space.
The cuts come at a time when demand for EVs has been surging, with global sales of plug-in vehicles increasing by more than 50 percent in 2021 compared to the same period a year ago. Despite this strong performance, Lucid has chosen to reduce its workforce as part of a strategic decision to focus its resources and efforts on the development and production of its flagship model, the Air, which is set to launch later this year.
In addition to the staff cuts, Lucid has chosen to reallocate some of its resources towards areas such as research and development of new technologies, production, and customer support. The company has also stated that it will be reducing its non-core activities in order to reduce expenses.
These changes come just five months after Lucid raised $1.2 billion in financing towards developing its Air model, which the company hopes will help it compete with established electric vehicle makers such as Tesla and General Motors.
Despite the layoffs, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson remained confident in the company’s long-term prospects.
“We remain on track to launch both early production and full production vehicles this year on track for market launch in North America, Europe and China,” said Rawlinson in a statement.
The job cuts at Lucid come in the midst of a downturn in the job market caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with many companies facing similar decisions about workforce size. This recalibration of its operations is likely to position Lucid for success as the global demand for electric vehicles continues to increase in the coming years.