Editors Note: A prior version of this story mistakenly cited a 2024 article from Reuters as though it was October 2025. The quote has been removed, and we regret the error. For additional corrections please reach out to: [email protected]
We have started choosing candidates for our annual worst CEO list, and Marc Winterhoff of Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ: LCID) is the next candidate. An all-time winner will be selected later in the year.
The way we chose these chief executives stems from major strategy stumbles. It also included a series of decisions they made that affect three groups: shareholders, customers, and employees. Some of these CEOs are fairly new to the public corporations they run. Others have had their jobs for years.
Formerly Lucid’s chief operating officer, Winterhoff is now the interim chief executive officer. This year, the company has given investors reason to savage the stock. Shares are off 53%, while the S&P 500 has gained 16%.
Lucid sold a tiny number of vehicles in the third quarter. The approaching end of the $7,500 tax credit on electric vehicles on September 30 should have lifted its sales considerably. Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) electric vehicle (EV) sales in the third quarter rose 30% to 30,612.
However, during the third quarter, Lucid produced 3,891 vehicles and delivered 4,078 vehicles. In the same quarter, revenue rose to $336 million, up from $200 million in the same quarter in the year prior. Yet, the loss for the quarter was $1.03 billion compared to a loss of $950 million in the same period a year ago.
Lucid’s Mistakes
Lucid has made several mistakes. Among them is that it has priced its cars out of the market that, for the most part, is looking for less expensive EVs. In the end, this is what will likely ruin the company. Management says it will address the problem with models priced at about $50,000. They will go into full production in 2029. Lucid will probably not be in business then. In the EV sector, three years is an eternity, particularly in the face of the advances of Chinese products.
Recently, Chief Financial Officer Taoufiq Boussaid made a vague comment about results: “Q4 might be a good quarter for us.” Based on the company’s sales run rate, it is hard to see how that could be much more than 8,500 units. At that pace, the company could well lose close to another billion dollars in the fourth quarter of this year.
Although Lucid has started to make attractive lease offers, the base price of Air is $70,900. However, the price ranges as high as $114,900. Boussaid said its Gravity model will be its best seller in the current quarter. Its base price is $79,000 but runs as high as $127,000.
The current valuation of Lucid should be much lower. Its market cap is $4.5 billion. Ford’s is $52 billion, but Ford sold over 4 million vehicles worldwide last year.
Is Lucid Doomed?
Ultimately, Lucid is doomed. That is true largely because of the terrible blow to the EV industry triggered by the end of the $7,500 tax credit. According to InsideCleanEnergy, “In November, EVs accounted for 5.3 percent of U.S. new-car and light-truck sales, a share that was less than half the record high in September, according to an estimate published last week by S&P Global Mobility.”
However, Winterhoff did not do the one thing that could have given Lucid a chance. He picked a part of the market that is almost barren.
Lucid Stock Price Prediction and Forecast 2025-2030
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