Is the “electric car winter” coming? Lucid (LCID.US) CEO says demand for trains in the US and Europe has clearly slowed down

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the CEO of Lucid Group (LCID.US), a new US electric vehicle force headquartered in California, said that he himself sees that demand for electric vehicles in the US and European markets is clearly slowing down. The CEO's latest remarks also echo the global electric vehicle demand trend that has continued to be volatile since this year — that is, EV (electric vehicle) technology and the EV supply chain are developing at an accelerated pace, and global demand is still showing signs of “cooling down.”

The cancellation of US federal tax benefits brought the wave of electric vehicle purchases forward to the third quarter of this year. Lucid interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said in an interview with the media on Wednesday. According to information, Lucid's second model, the Gravity sports utility vehicle (SUV), will arrive in Europe by the end of this year, and official delivery is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026.

“We're still actively dealing with the backlog of orders, so we're somewhat immune.” Winterhoff display. “But there is no doubt that market demand is indeed slowing down.”

A team of senior analysts at Morgan Stanley led by Adam Jones downgraded stock ratings for Lucid, Rivian Motors, and Tesla earlier this week. The core reason is that they expect the “cold winter of electric vehicles” to continue next year. Lucid's stock price has fallen by more than 7% since the publication of the Dalmatian research report, and the stock price has plummeted 59% since this year.

The chart above shows that Lucid lags behind its strongest rivals in the electric vehicle sector, especially Rivian and Tesla, performed better in a year of volatile demand.

Winterhoff has previously stated many times after succeeding Peter Rawlinson as interim CEO that Lucid's goal of producing about 18,000 electric vehicles this year is still within a reasonable range. “We are doing everything we can to ensure that this goal is achieved,” he said in an interview.

In the US, the end of the federal government tax credit (approximately $7,500 subsidy) for EVs in the Inflation Reduction Act (Inflation Reduction Act) was an important inflection point. The end of the subsidy enabled many potential buyers to speed up car purchases before the deadline, causing sales to rise in the third quarter, but it also meant that a subsequent slowdown was inevitable. As subsidies disappear and the economic attractiveness of car purchases declines, some Wall Street seller analysis models have predicted that this change will significantly “slow down the rate of EV adoption in the US.”

In Europe, it is mainly due to long-term high energy prices, inflationary pressure, and rising living costs, which together affect consumers' willingness to buy “new cars+expensive EVs.” The promotion of EVs requires not only cars, but also reliable, convenient, and wide-coverage charging pile networks. If the charging infrastructure is insufficient (or not convenient to use), it is a significant psychological/practical obstacle to the huge potential consumers in the European market. European market researchers have previously studied “insufficient charging infrastructure+high battery cost” as an important reason for the slowdown in EV adoption.