Lucid Delays Midsize EV Launch To 2027 As Part Of Turnaround Plan

"We will not repeat the mistakes of the past by bringing a product to market before it is ready," Lucid's CEO said on Tuesday.

Photo by: Suvrat Kothari

Tim Levin

By: Tim Levin

Aug 4, at 6:59pm ET

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Lucid's Cosmos EV will now launch in 2027, not 2026, the automaker's new CEO said on Tuesday.
Silvio Napoli said he does not want to rush the midsize EV into production before it's ready, as Lucid has done in the past.
Napoli said he is reviewing the business and laid out the beginnings of a turnaround plan.

Lucid Motors will launch its more affordable, midsized EV in 2027, not late 2026 as initially planned, CEO Silvio Napoli said on the company's second-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. The delay comes amid a broad review of Lucid's business that has included deep job cuts and an overhaul of the executive suite.

The Cosmos EV, which should cost under $50,000, is key to scaling up Lucid's vehicle sales and bringing in more revenue. The startup has targeted late 2026 for the start of production at its factory in Saudi Arabia. But on Tuesday, Napoli said the new model will instead hit production in early 2027, before ramping up in the second half of that year.

The Lucid Cosmos design was revealed in patent images filed in Europe.

Photo by: EUIPO

He said the factory is still taking shape, and that the company continues to test prototypes and build out its supply chain. He also said he did not want to rush the crucial model to market like Lucid had done in the past. Indeed, the Air and Gravity have both suffered from quality issues, particularly software bugs. He called the midsized EV "one of our must-wins."

"Our objective is clear: Midsize will launch only when every process and quality requirement have been met," Napoli said on Tuesday's call. "We will not repeat the mistakes of the past by bringing a product to market before it is ready."

In a rare admission for a public company, Lucid and Napoli laid out several ways the company has fallen short. In its second-quarter earnings release, the automaker said it has "not executed consistently," "underinvested in service," "responded too slowly" to quality issues, and "allowed complexity to slow decision making."

"The work ahead is substantial," Napoli said.

Lucid is setting its sights on the autonomous vehicle business through a deal to supply vehicles to Uber.

Photo by: Lucid Motors

Since joining the company as CEO in June, Napoli has embarked on a deep and broad turnaround plan. He has remade the C-suite; Lucid's COO, CFO, and top engineer all exited in recent months. And he cut about 18% of the automaker's staff in June. Lucid cut a shift of production at its factory in Arizona to rightsize supply with demand and focus on moving inventory. Between these and other moves, Lucid said it identified $1.4 billion in savings for this year that will help cut the company's cash burn.

Lucid has always developed fundamentally impressive products, but it has been slow to grow sales, even after the introduction of the Gravity SUV in late 2024. In the second quarter, the automaker posted a net loss of just over $1 billion, more than the roughly $539 million it lost in Q2 2025. Revenue increased to $405 million. The company said it has enough liquidity—$3 billion—to last it into 2027.

The company on Tuesday didn't provide official guidance for the rest of the year, but said it expects production in Q3 and Q4 to be below Q2 levels, when the company produce 4,774 vehicles and sold just under 4,000 of them.

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In addition to bringing the Cosmos and future midsize-platform EVs to market, Lucid looking to cash in on autonomous vehicles. It is supplying Gravity SUVs that will function as robotaxis on the Uber platform starting later this year.

Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com