Just as the new Lucid Gravity SUV began deliveries earlier this year, the startup's CEO, Peter Rawlinson, announced his decision to step down and become a strategic technical advisor to the board. Lucid's COO, Marc Winterhoff, has been named the interim CEO. Rawlinson has led the company for the past 12 years, overseeing landmark decisions like its renaming from Atieva to Lucid Motors and the launch of the Lucid Air.

Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff will oversee the new Gravity SUV

Winterhoff will be responsible for continuing production of the Gravity while the company seeks a permanent CEO. The SUV will reportedly receive a more affordable trim dubbed the Touring, to slot in underneath the current Grand Touring. That means the Lucid Gravity will have a starting MSRP of $81,550, while the Grand Touring will keep its $96,550 price tag.

Peter Rawlinson, chief executive officer of Lucid Motors Inc., during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, UK, on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024.
Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"Now that we have successfully launched the Lucid Gravity, I have decided it is finally the right time for me to step aside from my roles at Lucid," Rawlinson said in a Lucid press release.

The former CEO was even absent from the company's fourth-quarter 2024 earnings call yesterday, with Winterhoff clarifying that "Peter made the decision" to step back from day-to-day activities and "pass the baton."

Lucid's new vehicles should be revealed soon

Lucid is also working on a brand new mid-sized platform that will see three vehicles built upon it. One of them, the "Earth" SUV has already been teased and will reportedly arrive in late 2026 with an MSRP of around $48,000. The second vehicle could be an Air-like sedan, but there have been no hints dropped about the third vehicle.

Winterhoff claimed an early version of the Earth will see the light of day either by the end of this year or early 2026.

Final thoughts

Lucid is doing quite well as far as EV startups go. Not only are the Air and Gravity pretty attractive vehicles, but sales have also been on the rise. In the third quarter of 2024, Lucid Air deliveries increased 91% to a record 2,781 units. For the quarter ending in December 31, 2024, the company reportedly produced 3,386 vehicles and delivered 3,099 of them.

They might not be as focused on self-driving technology as competitor Rivian has been, but their lineup will soon be a lot more varied and could attract more customers than Rivian's truck and SUV.

Rawlinson did an excellent job leading the electric startup to success over the past 12 years. Whether the incoming CEO shares the same vision of licensing the EV company's technology to automakers remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: we hope Lucid sticks around for a while.

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Major EV automaker CEO steps down after over a decade