Electric vehicle startup Lucid (NASDAQ:LCID) on Tuesday said production of its first cars for customers is underway, with deliveries scheduled to begin late next month.
Lucid is the first EV start-up that went public through a SPAC deal to actually produce a saleable vehicle for consumers. The milestone is crucial for Lucid, which debuted on the Nasdaq in July and is viewed as a front-runner to rival EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).
"I’m delighted that production cars endowed with this level of efficiency are currently driving off our factory line," Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson, a former chief engineer and vice president of engineering at Tesla said in a statement.
Lucid’s first car is a $169,000 special edition of its flagship sedan called the Air Dream Edition, with an industry-leading range of up to 520 miles, according to the EPA. The company plans to produce just 520 of the Dream Edition models, in a nod to the car’s EPA range.
Pricing for an entry-level version of the car, the Lucid Air sedan, starts at $77,400 before an up to $7,500 federal tax credit for plug-in vehicles.
Lucid said it has received more than 13,000 total reservations so far.
The initial vehicles being produced, including Lucid Air Grand Touring models, are earmarked for Lucid’s studios, sales teams, and for customer test drives, according to a company spokesman.
LCID began trading Wednesday up $3.52, or 14.3%, to $28.06
