Lucid will open a second research and development office near Detroit in Southfield, Michigan. Lucid will open the office in Q4 of 2024.
The announcement comes after the Michigan Strategic Fund voted in favour of providing Lucid with a $6 million performance-based grant to set up the office. Per the grant, Lucid will need to create at least 262 jobs by June 30, 2027. The fund expects the majority of the jobs to be in the engineering field and pay at least $50 per hour.
This will be Lucid’s first office in Michigan—currently, the company employs 27 remote workers in the state, mainly in sales positions, according to a report from the Detroit Free Press.
It was also confirmed that Lucid will retain its primary research and development office near San Jose in Newark, California. However, the company did not offer any information on what each research and development office will focus on. They also did not confirm or hint if there were any additional plans to expand its planned operations in Michigan besides the newly announced office.
Lucid has manufacturing facilities in Arizona and Saudi Arabia and currently does not have further expansion plans announced. The company slashed prices on its vehicles last month in an attempt to boost its sluggish sales. In 2023 Lucid delivered just 6,001 vehicles to new customers, but produced over 8,400, leaving them with a significant level of inventory.
The outlook for 2024 doesn’t look any better, with the company forecasting to produce only 9,000 vehicles this year.
