Lucid Air electric sedan.Lucid Motors
- Saudi Arabia has been in talks with the electric-car maker Lucid Motors, Reuters reported Monday.
- Lucid was founded in 2007 under its former name, Atieva, and the Newark, California-based company began developing its first electric vehicle in 2014. The car, called Lucid Air, debuted in late 2016 as a 1,000-horsepower electric luxury sedan that Lucid said would rival Tesla’s highly successful Model S.
- Lucid invited Business Insider to check out a nearly finished representation of the car at its headquarters earlier this year.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the fund Elon Musk has said could help take Tesla private, is considering an investment in a electric-car maker Lucid Motors, according to Reuters.
The report comes almost two full weeks after the Financial Times first reported the kingdom’s sovereign-wealth fund had bought a 3% to 5% stake in Tesla. Elon Musk then tweeted that funding had been secured to take the electric-car maker private at $420 a share.
Musk later said he used the phrase “funding secured” because he believed there was “no question” Saudi Arabia’s PIF would provide funding to help take Tesla private. That’s funding’s since come in to question
Lucid was founded in 2007 under its former name, Atieva, and the Newark, California-based company began developing its first electric vehicle in 2014. The car, called Lucid Air, debuted in late 2016 as a 1,000-horsepower electric luxury sedan that Lucid said would rival Tesla’s highly successful Model S.
The Lucid Air will be the first vehicle out of the company’s stable when it goes into production in 2019, the company said. Lucid invited Business Insider to check out a nearly finished representation of the car at its headquarters earlier this year.
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