Lucid in Talks to Partner With Carmaker, Plans IPO in Few Years

(Bloomberg) -- Lucid Motors Inc. is in talks with automakers about potentially sharing its electric-vehicle technology and plans to go public in a few years, a senior executive said.

The company isn’t mulling a potential sale, Chief Technology Officer Peter Rawlinson said in an interview. Lucid considered one earlier and even held early-stage takeover talks with Ford Motor Co., Bloomberg News reported in July 2017, citing people familiar with the discussions.

“We’re actually currently in dialogue with companies that are interested in our technology,” Rawlinson said at the BloombergNEF Summit in San Francisco. “If there is an opportunity for partnership with some way that doesn’t dilute our brand and is beneficial, then that would be ultimately a board decision.”

Lucid landed a $1 billion investment by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in September, clinching long-sought funding that’s crucial to getting its first model, the Air sedan, into production. The company plans to start construction of a plant in Arizona this spring and begin building the car in late 2020.

Rawlinson, who was chief engineer of the Model S when he worked for Tesla Inc., said on Bloomberg Television that Lucid has developed world-class technology that traditional automakers lack and could benefit from. He declined to identify the carmakers Lucid is having talks with and said the company won’t do an initial public offering until after the Air is in production.

“We want to grow this business. Some sort of short-term move of a sale is just not on the agenda for me or any of the team,” he said. “We see huge, long-term value for Lucid.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Craig Trudell in New York at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net;Gabrielle Coppola in New York at gcoppola@bloomberg.net;Emily Chang in San Francisco at echang68@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, David Welch

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