CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — Lucid Motors, the electric car manufacturer with a plant in Casa Grande, is planning to reduce its workforce by 6%.
According to filings submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company intends to cut 400 jobs in order to optimize Lucid's operating expenses.
Lucid estimates spending up to $25 million in severance payments and employee benefits to complete the reduction plan. CEO Peter Rawlinson told employees in an email that the plan will not impact Lucid's hourly manufacturing and logistics workforce.
"Letting go of our talented team members is difficult and a decision we did not take lightly," Rawlinson wrote. "We are thankful to everyone who has helped Lucid at every step of our journey."
Despite the workforce changes, Rawlinson told employees that Lucid's future is "bright."
"I’m confident Lucid will deliver the world’s best SUV and dramatically expand our total addressable market, but we aren’t generating revenue from the program yet," Rawlinson's email stated.
Lucid released the following statement to 12News:
"As part of Lucid’s ongoing resource optimization efforts noted on our Q1 FY2024 earnings call, we have made the difficult decision to eliminate select roles across our US offices, impacting approximately 6% percent of our total employee workforce. We are grateful for the contributions of these individuals and are providing the necessary resources and support through this transition.
The majority of the reduction announced on Friday impacted our California employees and as mentioned in our CEO’s published internal email, “The reduction in force will not impact our hourly manufacturing and logistics workforce.” There were approximately 60 salaried individuals in Arizona impacted by the reduction in force and no production workers were affected."
About a year ago, Lucid announced it was cutting roughly 1,000 jobs from its Casa Grande plant.
The manufacturing facility started producing electric cars in 2021. At the time of its opening, Lucid claimed the plant would create 6,000 new jobs.
*Editor's Note: The above video is from an earlier broadcast.*
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