Lucid Group, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Lucid Group third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star then the number one on your touchtone phone. Please record your name and the name of your firm after the tone. Your name is required to ask your questions. I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker for today, Meena Dam, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome to Lucid Group's third quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me today are Peter Rawlinson, our CEO and CTO, and Gagan Dhingra, our Interim CFO and Principal Accounting Officer. Before handing the call over to Peter, let me remind you that some of the statements on this call include forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. These include, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial performance of the company, production and delivery volumes, financial and operating outlook and guidance, macroeconomic and industry trends, company initiatives, and other future events. These statements are based on predictions and expectations as of today, and actual events or results may differ due to a number of risks and uncertainties. We refer you to the cautionary language and the risk factors in our most recent filings with the SEC and the forward-looking statements on page two of our investor deck, available on the investor relations section of our website at ir.lucidmotors.com. In addition, management will make reference to non-GAAP financial measures during this call. A discussion of why we use non-GAAP financial measures and information regarding reconciliation of our GAAP versus non-GAAP results is available in our earnings press release issued earlier this afternoon, as well as in the investor deck. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Lucid's CEO and CTO, Peter Rawlinson. Peter, please go ahead.

Thank you, Maynard, and thank you, everyone, for joining us on our third quarter 2024 earnings call. Now, before I get to the third quarter results, I'd like to start by thanking all our employees, suppliers, and partners for their support and hard work. I'd like also to thank our investors and the PIF for their continuous support and partnership. Last month, we raised approximately $1.75 billion through a public offering of common stock of approximately $719 million and a corresponding pro rata investment by an affiliate of the Public Investment Fund of approximately $1.5 to $6 billion. This additional capital gives us sufficient financial runway into the ramp of lucid gravity and indeed well into 2026. Now, the raise is consistent with our strategy. We have said that we'd continue to be opportunistic based upon the markets, and we delivered this with strong support from the PIF as well as other institutional investors. So turning to third quarter results, we had another quarter of record deliveries with the momentum in the first half of the year continuing into the third quarter. We delivered 2,781 vehicles, up approximately 91% year over year, and up 16% sequentially, outperforming what is typically a seasonally softer period for the industry. In September, In the U.S. market, the Lucid Air not only outsold many of the largest and most storied brands in the industry within our competitive set of electric vehicles, but we also outsold many of the competitive set in the gas market as well. So I think our momentum is quite notable. And I believe a part of this is due to Lucid's growing brand awareness. which is reaching an all-time high in the third quarter since we started tracking this metric. Whilst I believe we still have much more opportunity to grow our brand awareness, we're still making very good progress, and I think you can see this in our delivery numbers. The number of vehicles on the road continues to grow, and I'd like to thank our loyal customers who are our biggest advocates. You are a key part of our success. and I'd like to extend my sincere gratitude. Turning to production, we produced 1,805 vehicles in the third quarter and are on track to produce approximately 9,000 vehicles for the full year 2024. I'm delighted with the progress we've made with vehicle inventory and will continue to manage this judiciously. As that said, I would expect an increase in production in the fourth quarter. I'm also delighted by the progress in our planned cost optimization programs at the Arizona factory. In the third quarter, we transitioned our battery enclosure manufacturing and various sub-assemblies on site, and we're transitioning powertrain manufacturing to be fully on site. We expect this will not only have a number of cost benefits, including logistics, but but should also help the efficiency of the factory when fully integrated. We held our technology and manufacturing day at the Arizona factory on September the 10th to demonstrate our technology leadership, its cost effectiveness, and to show off our lucid gravity SUV. The day was purposefully structured to not only highlight our technology advantage, but just as critically, our cost competitiveness, referencing data from a widely respected and objective third-party company that specializes in this type of analysis. We also demonstrated how our advanced technology translates into vehicle comfort and performance with close-course test rides of Lucid Gravity Beta and pre-production vehicles, as well as the Lucid Air Sapphire zero to 60 launches. Now, I think those that have had the opportunity to test ride the Lucid Gravity would agree that the drivability is more akin to a sports sedan than a traditional SUV. The Lucid Air is the best car I've ever driven, but the Lucid Gravity may well be the first SUV I'm genuinely looking forward to as my daily driver. We've also opened our Arizona factory to show phase two to analysts for the first time, highlighting the high levels of automation and significant areas of cost savings that we have and will be able to realize. Turning to software, on our last quarter's earnings call, I promised we would release over-the-air software updates substantively enhancing our Advanced Driver Assistance System, or ADAS. And we delivered with a number of over-the-air updates in the third quarter, including a Lucid UX 2.4 package, which introduced many enhanced features, such as lane change assist, active curve speed control, and extended stop and go. Now UX 2.4 also introduced our new Lucid Assistant, our new in-cabin voice assistant, as well as user interface upgrades. And last week, we started deploying via an over-the-air software update, Lucid UX 2.5, which adds an innovative curb rash assist feature, warning the driver of the Lucid Air before a wheel scrapes the curb. We also upgraded the performance of our audio systems for improved response and performance. Now, these are further examples of how we continue to bring tremendous value to the vehicle long after a customer's purchase. The software team is invigorated, and we have much more in store. In the very near future, we're targeting the release of an over-the-air software update that will enable hands-free highway assist. Watch this space. I believe the roadmap is robust, and I think customers are really going to love it. I'm also delighted to announce that Lucid Air earned the highest possible overall safety rating of five stars from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's New Car Assessment Program. This is the government's premier customer information program for evaluating vehicle safety. The Lucid Air Pure, Touring, Grand Touring and Sapphire received the maximum five-star scores for overall safety in frontal crash, side crash and rollover testing. This follows the highest possible European rating of five stars for the Lucid Air in the rigorous Euro NCAP crash testing process. We worked assiduously on making the most advanced electric vehicle enabled by a clean sheet design and engineering with the goal of securing the highest possible safety ratings. Safety has been a top priority from the outset at Lucid and achieving five stars in NHTSA's new car assessment program should give owners even more confidence in the Lucid air. So we have much to celebrate this quarter and thus far throughout the year. I think our progress through the first three quarters of the year is a testament to our tremendous progress. Turning to the lucid gravity, I'm delighted to announce that we opened orders and pricing today. Our configurator is now live. Customers are telling us they are keen to get behind the wheel of a lucid gravity, and we know there's an incredible amount of interest. For example, we held lucid gravity roadshow events in our studios across the country. And in those studios, we saw foot traffic increase more than 70% versus the prior 30 days. I think certainly the lucid gravity is having a positive effect on the lucid brand. and is also helping to raise awareness of the lucid air. The scheduled start of production is just a number of weeks away, and I think very soon we'll be in a position to announce when we might be able to make the very first deliveries. On the technology licensing front, we remain actively engaged in discussions. You can see that the industry has become more active. However, to my knowledge, many of the announcements we've seen in the industry don't appear to be binding. And my philosophy is that announcements should be of greater binding substance because you can lose a significant amount of leverage if you were to announce something well before the details are set. So all I can say is to watch this space. In closing, I'm very encouraged by the progress and momentum that we're having with the Lucid Air. I believe that the Lucid Gravity is coming at an opportune time as the momentum and brand awareness has been building. And all the elements that make the Lucid Air a success is coming to the Lucid Gravity. I believe this innovation has the potential to reshape the market for SUVs. with meaningful opportunity to scale in a significantly larger addressable market. And in technology licensing, I believe our technology is even more relevant today than it has ever been. But our Atlas drive unit technology for midsize addresses a significantly larger market. We're also realizing the benefits from our cost optimization programs. and we've identified further opportunities. Perhaps cost transformation is a more appropriate nomenclature as we're instilling this into our very DNA of the company. And we will tactically reprioritize some benefits into areas of strategic growth like lucid gravity, the Atlas drive unit, and the midsize platforms. So lastly, I'd like to thank all of our employees, our suppliers, our customers, our strategic partners, and our investors for your hard work and your support. I look forward to updating you of our progress in the future. And so with that, I'd like to send it over to Gagan Dhingra to provide an update on our financials. Gagan.

Thank you, Peter. and thank you to those who are taking the time to join us today. Before I get to my prepared remarks, I would also like to start by thanking the entire LUCI team for their hard work. The significant achievements and progress we have made is a direct result of your efforts. Turning to our 2024 third quarter financial results. During the third quarter, we produced 1,805 vehicles, and we reaffirm our guidance to produce approximately 9,000 vehicles this year. More importantly, deliveries of 2,781 vehicles were yet again ahead of expectations in the third quarter, up approximately 91% year-over-year and more than 16% sequentially. As Peter mentioned, we are pleased with the demand we have been experiencing thus far. Deliveries outpaced production in the quarter, as we further managed to work down vehicle inventory. We reported revenue of approximately $200 million in the third quarter, up 45.2% year-over-year and flat sequentially. Average selling price was down sequentially primarily due to product mix. For those who are calculating average selling price by taking revenue and dividing it by total deliveries, please note that 8% of deliveries were subject to operating lease accounting and the revenue recognized for those recalls was immaterial in the third quarter. Cost of revenue in the third quarter was $412.5 million. The LCNRV impairment was $154.9 million. GAAP gross margin improved by 28 percentage points sequentially and better than directional guidance we provided of beam down sequential. Also, last quarter, We called out a special provision related to a warranty campaign that impacted the second quarter gross margin. Excluding that campaign, our third quarter gross margin still would have improved by approximately 11 percentage points. The primary reason for the improved gross margin was a result of continued cost reduction initiatives. As we look into the fourth quarter, we expect gross margin to be largely flat. As we highlighted at our Technology and Manufacturing Day in Arizona, we believe our technology and increased scale will be key enablers of our gross margin and the forthcoming lucid gravity ramp will be a key driver. Now moving to operating expenses. R&D expense in Q3 totaled $324.4 million, up 13% sequentially. The increase was primarily due to higher stock risk compensation expense which we called out on our last quarter's earnings call, as well as the costs related to the lucid gravity and the run-up to startup production. SG&A expense in Q3 was $233.6 million, up 11% from Q2. The sequential increase was primarily due to high stock risk compensation expense, again, as we called out on our last quarter's earnings call. As we guided previously, We expect our full year 2024 operating expense to decrease as a percentage of revenue compared with 2023. We ended the third quarter with 55 studio and service centers, excluding our temporary and satellite service locations, up from 53 in Q2. On the service side, we ended Q3 with 72 mobile vans in the fleet and 118 airport body shops worldwide. We plan to continue to strategically expand Our studio and service center footprint as well as satellite service centers which will cost effectively provide additional locations as well as ensure high customer satisfaction as we continue to grow. Our stock with compensation expense in the quarter was $88.1 million compared to $58.5 million in Q2. In Q3, we recorded a loss of $221.5 million in other expense. which mainly included a non-cash loss of approximately $240 million, driven by an increase in the fair value of derivative liabilities associated with our redeemable convertible preferred stock. This was mainly due to the increase in our share price at the end of the third quarter compared to the prior quarter. The adjusted EBITDA loss was $613.1 million compared with $647.6 million in Q2. The improvement was largely driven by improvements in gross margin. Gap net loss per share in Q3 was 41 cents and non-gap net loss per share was 28 cents. The difference was primarily related to the change in fair value of derivative liabilities associated with our redeemable convertible preferred stock. Moving to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with approximately $4.03 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and investments. and total liquidity of approximately $5.16 billion. As Peter mentioned, in October, we raised a total of approximately $1.75 billion through a public offering of common stock and a corresponding pro rata investment by an affiliate of the public investment fund. I would also like to thank the PIF for their incredible partnership and support. We remain committed to maintaining a healthy balance sheet to execute on our strategic vision