Lucid Sees Tesla As The Real Competition In 'Two-Horse Race' EV Market: CEO

Lucid Motors Inc CEO Peter Rawlinson told Yahoo! Finance on Wednesday the luxury electric vehicle maker is aiming to compete with the market leader Tesla Inc TSLA in what’s going to play out as a "two-horse" electric vehicle tech race.

What Happened: Rawilson said legacy automakers are pouring in billions of dollars in recognition that it is a technology race. Tesla tops the charts in that department and Lucid aims to replicate this with its technology. 

According to Rawilson, there’s plenty of room to thrive for all automakers in the electric vehicle space and more competition will only make the industry better.

See Also: Why Lucid CEO Doesn't See Apple Car As Threat To EV Makers Like His Company And Tesla

Rawlinson, a British engineer based in California, was previously chief engineer on Tesla's Model S, and that’s one company he’s really concerned about.

“And right now, there is one runner in that tech race and it's Tesla. That's why Tesla commands that market cap. That's why it's in that preeminent position,” Rawlinson added. "We aim to make this a two-horse race."

See Also: Lucid Names Former Waymo Executive As CFO In 'Pivotal Year'

Why It Matters: Lucid Motors will be going public through a SPAC merger with Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital Corp IV CCIV later this month. 

The EV startup on Wednesday revealed its first all-electric Lucid Air luxury sedan has secured over 10,000 ‘bona fide’ orders with appropriate deposits, some over $7,000.

Lucid is among a host of EV startups that have taken the SPAC route to go public.

Price Action: Churchill Capital shares jumped 9.42% to $28.82 on Wednesday.

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Photo: Courtesy of Lucid