Lucid's share price receives a welcome boost on news of America's growing appetite for electric vehicles with over 800,000 sold in 2022.
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Lucid Motors (NASDAQ:LCID) started the week on the right foot after a difficult start to 2023, gaining 6% to finish the day at $7.19 per share and mirror the climb of other EV stocks.
While 2022 held a lot of important firsts for companies like Lucid and Rivian it was anything but good for their share prices. Lucid finds itself down 84.19% compared to a year ago and Rivian's not much better off at 80% down.
The kind of hysteria that saw Rivian valued at more than $100 billion without a single vehicle in customer hands tailed off in 2022 as the harsh realities of setting up in the EV business reared their troublesome heads. Lithium prices were consistently high, while the hangover from the pandemic meant the production and shipment of vital parts was often interrupted. Production delays sapped investor confidence and targets were missed. Just how far from profitable the new kids of the EV block are became painfully clear, with Lucid and Rivian burning through hundreds of millions and billions of dollars in cash respectively.
October's Twitter takeover created uncertainty around Elon Musk's interest in running Tesla, which maybe won't go on to monopolize transport and energy and whatever else. Tesla's share price dropped, taking the industry it's so emblematic of with it.
Share prices and valuations might have taken a tumble in 2022, but consumer demand for electric vehicles certainly did not. Citing data from market research company Motor Intelligence, the Wall Street Journal reported that 807,180 EVs were sold in America during 2022. This represents a more than 60% jump over the previous year and meant that over 5% of new vehicles sold in 2022 were all-electric.
Another sign of a burgeoning EV market is Tesla's market share falling from 72% in 2021 to 65% last year, which shows that the upstarts and legacy brands alike are starting to catch up as the sector diversifies.
These are the factors that are pushing EV stocks higher as a whole this week. Data supporting the EV market's growth is tempting investors back into the pool and adding momentum to companies that could really use it. How long this lasts with the threat of recession looming remains to be seen, but for the meantime it's some welcome good news.
We'll know more on spending, production and future plans when Lucid delivers its Q4 2022 and full-year results, likely in February.
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Images by Lucid Motors licensed by CC BY 4.0.
James Walker is an Automotive Journalist at Torque News focusing on Lucid Motors. If it's got wheels he's interested, and he's looking forward to seeing what kind of cars the EV revolution brings us. Whether it's fast, slow, new, or old, James wants to have a look around it and share it in print and on video, ideally with some twisty roads involved. You can connect with James on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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