Electric-vehicle maker Lucid Group is shrinking again. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, June 22, the company said it will cut roughly 18% of its U.S. workforce — about 1,500 jobs — and eliminate the role of chief operating officer as it scrambles to slow its cash burn and match production to weak demand. It is the second round of deep cuts this year, following a 12% reduction in February, and the first major move by new chief executive Silvio Napoli, who took the top job on June 1.

The reductions hit full-time employees, contractors and hourly factory workers, and come paired with a decision to eliminate the second production shift at Lucid’s AMP-1 plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, its largest factory. The company expects about $32 million in one-time severance and transition charges and roughly $158 million in annual savings once the plan is finished, which it expects by the end of the third quarter. “These are difficult decisions taken to align production with demand, reduce inventory, and adapt to declining market conditions,” a Lucid spokesperson said.

The same filing confirmed that chief operating officer Marc Winterhoff is leaving immediately, with his role scrapped entirely. Winterhoff had served as interim CEO for more than a year before Napoli, a former chairman and chief executive of Swiss elevator maker Schindler Group, took over. His exit adds to a long run of departures in Lucid’s executive ranks and underscores how sharply the new boss is reshaping the company in his first weeks.

The cuts reflect a brutal stretch. Lucid lost about $2.7 billion in 2025 on revenue of just $1.35 billion, and burned through roughly $3.8 billion in cash. In the first quarter of 2026, revenue rose about 20% from a year earlier to $282 million, but the company produced 5,500 vehicles while delivering only 3,093, leaving costly inventory on the ground, and its gross margin ran deeply negative. Lucid has suspended its 2026 production guidance — once set at 25,000 to 27,000 vehicles — and says it will give a fresh outlook at its second-quarter earnings. It started the year with roughly 9,000 employees worldwide.

Investors have already punished the stock. Lucid shares fell about 4% on Monday to around $5, and are down roughly 50% in 2026, trading near a 52-week low of $4.47 after touching $33.70 over the past year. Wall Street is cautious but not hopeless: of 11 analysts tracked by TheStreet, eight rate the stock a hold, two a sell and one a buy, with an average 12-month price target near $9.75 — a figure that implies large upside only if Napoli’s turnaround takes hold.

Lucid’s troubles are partly its own and partly the industry’s. U.S. EV demand has cooled after the $7,500 federal tax credit was eliminated under the Trump administration and several major automakers pulled back their electric plans. Survival has leaned heavily on Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Lucid’s majority owner, which has poured in billions. The company is betting its future on two coming mass-market models — the Cosmos crossover, expected to start near $50,000 and rival the Tesla Model Y, and the larger Earth — along with a robotaxi partnership with Uber and Nuro slated to launch later this year.

For now, the message from Napoli is retrenchment. By cutting headcount, idling a shift and stripping out a layer of management, Lucid is buying time to reach the mass-market launches it hopes will finally bring scale. Whether that is enough to outrun the cash burn — without leaning even harder on its Saudi backer — is the question investors will be asking when the company reports second-quarter results.

JBizNews Desk
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