Report: Lucid Discussed Possible Sale With Ford

A new report says that Lucid Motors, the EV startup from Menlo Park, Calif., is considering a sale to Ford after it held talks regarding a possible takeover. Speaking with Automotive News, sources close to the matter who asked to remain unidentified have revealed that the electric automaker is considering the sale to the Blue Oval as it attempts to raise more funds.

Morgan Stanley has been hired by Lucid to help it raise more money for vehicle development and to build its manufacturing facility in Arizona. Individuals familiar with the matter revealed to Automotive News that Lucid approached Ford’s senior management about a possible sale but they were told that the Blue Oval wasn’t looking for a deal currently because its new CEO, Jim Hackett, is in the middle of a 100-day review of the automaker’s plans and priorities.

Originally founded in 2007, Lucid is targeting 2018 to start production of the Air, its first all-electric luxury sedan priced around $60,000 to start. The company originally specialized in making battery packs for electric buses in China. Thanks to a number of Asian investors, Lucid was able to raise over $100 million and is now in the process of working on the fourth round of finding new funding.

Back at the 2017 New York auto show in April, Lucid’s chief technology officer said that it would be irresponsible to start construction of the Arizona plant without funding in place. Lucid’s Arizona facility is expected to cost around $700 million. Rawlinson also said in an interview with Bloomberg that the EV maker is “thrilled with the response from investors;” however, he declined to comment on the takeover and sale talks with Ford or the scale of its fundraising activities.

Former Steelcase CEO Jim Hackett replaced Mark Fields as Ford’s CEO after the latter was ousted in May due to the board of directors being unhappy with the pace of change under Fields’ leadership and a 40-percent drop in stock market share prices. Hackett has close ties to Silicon Valley and was in charge of Ford’s autonomous vehicle project. According to one of the unidentified sources, Ford isn’t ruling out the possibility of buying out Lucid in the future. It currently has a large plan that will see it spend $4.5 billion to electrify nearly half of its lineup by adding more plug-ins, hybrids, and all-electric vehicles. Ford is also expected to introduce a full EV autonomous vehicle by 2021. Earlier this year, Ford announced that it was investing $1 billion in Argo AI, a startup developing self-driving tech.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)

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