Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has announced plans to cut approximately 18% of its U.S. workforce as it moves to reduce costs, lower vehicle inventory and bring production closer to actual demand.
The restructuring is expected to generate about $158 million in annualised savings. It will affect full-time employees, contractors and hourly manufacturing workers, marking Lucid’s second major round of job cuts this year.
The company had around 9,000 employees globally at the end of 2025. While Lucid has not disclosed an exact number of roles affected in this latest move, the reduction is expected to impact a significant part of its U.S. operations.
Production Shift Removed at Arizona Factory
As part of the plan, Lucid will eliminate the second production shift at its AMP-1 factory in Arizona. The move signals that the company is adjusting output after building up higher-than-needed inventory.
For an automaker, excess inventory is rarely just a warehouse issue. It ties up cash, increases storage and logistics costs, and often forces manufacturers to offer heavier discounts to move vehicles. Lucid is now attempting to avoid that cycle by reducing production before inventory becomes a larger financial drag.
A company spokesperson said the decisions were made to align production with demand, reduce inventory and respond to weakening market conditions.
COO Marc Winterhoff Exits Immediately
Lucid also confirmed that Chief Operating Officer Marc Winterhoff has left the company with immediate effect. The COO position has been removed entirely as part of the restructuring.
Winterhoff had previously served as interim CEO before Silvio Napoli took over as Lucid’s chief executive on June 1. The leadership change gives Napoli a cleaner operating structure, but also puts more pressure on him to stabilise production, control costs and rebuild investor confidence.
The company expects to incur around $32 million in cash charges related to severance, employee benefits and transition support connected to the workforce reduction.
Second Round of Cuts This Year
This is not Lucid’s first attempt to tighten its operations in 2026. In February, the company reduced roughly 12% of its U.S. workforce as it pursued a path towards profitability.
The latest announcement shows that the earlier cuts were not enough to offset the company’s cost base and slower market demand. Lucid is still working to turn its premium electric vehicle business into a financially sustainable operation, even as it continues to expand its product lineup.
The company lost $2.7 billion on revenue of $1.35 billion in 2025. Its negative free cash flow reached $3.8 billion, underlining the scale of the challenge ahead.
A Tougher Road for EV Startups
Lucid’s restructuring comes at a difficult moment for the wider EV industry. Adoption has slowed compared with earlier forecasts, competition has intensified and policy support has become less certain.
The removal of the $7,500 U.S. federal EV incentive has added more pressure on manufacturers trying to convince buyers to make the switch from petrol-powered vehicles. For premium brands such as Lucid, the challenge is even sharper: they must protect margins while competing with larger automakers that have deeper pockets, wider dealer networks and greater production scale.
Lucid has said it expects to become cash-flow positive later this decade. For now, the company’s latest reset makes one thing clear: growth is no longer the immediate priority. Discipline is.
Comments are closed.