EV maker Lucid to lay off more than 300 employees

SelfRugger

2026-04-08 08:36:50

EV maker Lucid to lay off more than 300 employees

Caroline Petrow-Cohen

Fri, February 27, 2026 at 4:36 AM GMT+9 3 min read

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Lucid Motors electric cars are seen in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Lucid, the Bay Area-based automaker that sells luxury electric vehicles, is laying off 319 workers as it sustains billions of dollars in losses.

Lucid filed a notice with the California Employment Development Department on Friday confirming the layoffs, which will affect employees at the company’s headquarters in Newark, Calif.

The company has been struggling to turn a profit as demand for EVs softens under the Trump administration and consumers seek out lower prices.

The cuts, which go into effect in April, are part of a 12% reduction in the company’s workforce as it looks to boost efficiency.

Lucid employed about 6,800 people in 2024.

The layoffs are “designed to streamline our organization so we can operate with greater efficiency and deliver on our commitments to gross margin improvement and long-term growth,” Lucid said in a statement.

The company has been trying to boost its brand with a Timothèe Chalamet-centered ad campaign that’s airing on television and streaming services. The ad promotes the company’s seven-seat SUV dubbed Gravity.

Read more: Uber partnering with Lucid, Nuro to launch robotaxis in 2026

Lucid named Chalamet as its global brand ambassador last year and tapped director James Mangold to shoot a short film starring the actor and featuring the Gravity SUV.

“Bold, discerning, and unapologetically original, he represents the same spirit that defines our brand,” Lucid said of Chalamet.

Its new marketing tactics still haven’t been enough to shield Lucid from a challenging EV environment.

The company reported $2.7 billion losses in both 2024 and 2025. Its sales jumped 55% to 15,841 vehicles delivered last year.

The layoffs will hit Lucid’s engineers the hardest, with about 140 jobs being cut across software and hardware engineering teams. Data scientists, project managers and designers will also be impacted.

The company said the layoffs will not affect its manufacturing staff in Pinal County, Ariz.

“Our core priorities remain unchanged: we are focusing on the start of production of our Midsize platform… and growing sales of Lucid Gravity and Air across existing and new geographies,” a Lucid spokesperson said.

Read more: EV truck maker Rivian is laying off hundreds amid a slowdown in demand

Lucid was founded in 2007 under the name Atieva with a focus on EV batteries.

It went public as Lucid in 2021 with funding from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Soon after, it launched its luxury sedan called the Lucid Air, which starts at around $80,000.

Lucid shares were stable in midday trading on Thursday but have fallen nearly 55% over the past year.

Story Continues

Tesla and Rivian, competing EV makers also advertising a luxury product, have hit recent roadblocks as well.

Although Rivian reported better than expected earnings for 2025, it laid off more than 600 workers last October, about 4% of its workforce.

Tesla has seen falling sales and a declining reputation as chief executive Elon Musk tries to shift the focus of his company to artificial intelligence and self-driving technology.

The company announced last month it would discontinue two of its electric vehicle models.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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