Fresh from a $1 billion stake sale to the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, luxury EV startup Lucid on Monday named Peter Rawlinson as its new CEO.
Rawlinson was the chief engineer of the Tesla Model S prior to joining Lucid as chief technology officer in 2013, and he has helped to develop a number of vehicles from various brands, notably Lotus and Jaguar.
In his new role as Lucid CEO, Rawlinson replaces company co-founder Sam Weng and will remain CTO.
Peter Rawlinson
Weng, who has retired, founded Lucid together with Bernard Tse, another former Tesla executive, in 2007 as a battery technology company originally by the name of Atieva. Lucid was spun off from Atieva in 2016 as an EV startup, with the original Atieva remaining a noted battery technology company and supplier.
Lucid recently moved into a new 305,000-square-foot headquarters in Silicon Valley and is preparing to break ground on a plant in Casa Grande, Arizona. The company aims to have a high-performance electric sedan called the Air in production in 2020.
The Air was unveiled in late 2016, and at the time Lucid promised the base model will offer 400 horsepower and 240 miles of range. The range-topping version will offer as much as 1,000 hp and 400 miles. An SUV is tipped to follow as the next model from the startup.
