Lucid Motors capitalizes on shifting EV loyalties

Lucid Motors $LCID ( ▲ 2.04% ) is seeing a major uptick in its deliveries as more Tesla $TSLA ( ▲ 9.8% ) owners ditch the brand amid a growing backlash against the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.

The details: Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO of Lucid Motors, told Fox Business News the electric automaker has experienced a “dramatic uptick over the past two months” in orders from former Tesla drivers in an interview spotlighting the new Lucid Gravity Grand Touring. 

• 50% of Lucid’s recent orders are from Tesla vehicle owners, according to the Lucid Motors interim CEO.   

• More than 75% of the orders for the new Gravity—which has a starting price of $94,900 for the Grand Touring model—are completely new to the Lucid brand.

News of Lucid winning over Tesla buyers follows a recent report that reveals Tesla cars from model year 2017 or newer accounted for 1.4% of all the vehicles traded in until March 15, up from 0.4% in March last year. 

Why it matters: The revelation that Lucid is drawing buyers from Tesla—with vehicles priced at over $90K—indicates that there is a huge opportunity for other brands to grab some of Tesla’s market share.       

Between the lines: The fact that Tesla owners are ditching the brand for other EV options like Lucid certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed among the brand’s stakeholders as the fallout from Musk’s involvement with DOGE continues to mount. Musk even weighed in on the blowback Sunday at a political town hall rally in Wisconsin, saying, “It’s costing me a lot to do this job.”

• Tesla shares have dropped 45% since their Dec. 17, peak, following a record high in the month after President Trump was elected.  

• The Tesla CEO’s personal wealth—of which 60% is derived from Tesla—has declined by more than $100 billion this year, sinking below $400 billion after reaching $486 billion in December. 

Bottomline: Non-Tesla EV models have already been gaining traction in the EV space prior to Musk’s involvement with DOGE. However, the Tesla CEO’s political moves could be a major turning point for the brand, opening the door for Lucid—which will introduce a lower-priced Gravity ($79,900) later—and others to claim an even larger market share of the EV sector.

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