Although Lucid Motors aims to be a unique electric car manufacturer, with exclusive solutions, it has a close relationship with Tesla. It’s CEO, Peter Rawlinson, is the man that engineered the Model S. He now promises the Lucid Air will be much better than his Tesla creation. As if it was not enough, Lucid Motors now hired Jonathan Butler as  Vice President, General Counsel. Among his 17 years of legal experience with automotive and technology industries, 8 were spent as the General Counsel at Tesla.

Rawlinson states that Butler will be instrumental in “protecting Lucid’s prodigious intellectual property” apart from taking care of “legal, compliance, and public policy.” Considering his experience at Tesla, he can certainly help in much more than that.

Take Tesla’s direct-sales model as an example. It is something that sets this Lucid’s competitor apart from all other manufacturers, which remain faithful to dealerships. Even companies that seem to follow Tesla, such as Polestar, still have dealers.

Butler probably has a lot of experience in negotiating to have such a sales standard established. Lucid mentions explicitly it will have a “direct-to-consumer model,” but we are yet to confirm if that is really the case or not.

Lucid Air - Beta Prototype Fleet

If it is, the company will be able to sell directly to its clients in the same states where Tesla is allowed to do that. But what about the others? In a way, any progress one of these companies achieves will help the other. Lucid must have high hopes that Tesla sets a plant in Texas for the Cybertruck, for example. That will undoubtedly help sell Teslas – and Lucids – directly to customers in that state.

We’ll learn more about how Butler will be able to help Lucid in legal matters very soon. For the time being, the company just needs its fantastic engineering. It already proved its cars could run 400 miles on a single charge. It also promises its permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) will behave like induction motors. What else does Lucid have up its sleeve? Perhaps having Rawlinson and Butler in the team already made it hold all the aces.

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Jonathan Butler Joins Lucid Motors

Bringing Substantial Legal Expertise to Our Leadership Team

Even as we work remotely, our team continues to grow — Lucid has, in fact, welcomed over 120 new colleagues since we began sheltering in place a few months ago. They will all play critical roles as our large beta prototype fleet prepares for further testing and significant progress on our new Arizona factory moves us closer to Lucid Air production late this year.

We are especially pleased to announce an important addition to our leadership team: Jonathan Butler has joined Lucid Motors as Vice President, General Counsel, leading all aspects of our legal, compliance, and public policy functions.

With 17 years of legal experience in the automotive and technology industries, Butler has vast expertise with commercial transactions, corporate governance, litigation, compliance, risk management, and issues related to intellectual property. He most recently spent eight years as Deputy General Counsel at Tesla. And he previously spent eight years at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman — an international law firm — in its litigation practice and its global sourcing and technology transactions practice.

“Jonathan is an exceptional addition to the Lucid team and will be key to fulfilling our mission to deliver the best possible electric vehicle experience,” said CEO Peter Rawlinson. “He will not only lead all of Lucid’s efforts related to legal, compliance, and public policy, but will also be responsible for protecting Lucid’s prodigious intellectual property and ensuring we remain ahead of the competition well into the future.”

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