(New York) Just weeks after producing their first electric vehicles, Lucid overtook venerable manufacturer Ford on Wall Street on Tuesday, while Rivian is now worth more on the stock market than German group Volkswagen.
The action of the American group Lucid, which benefited from the announcement of an increase in reservations for its electric sedans in recent weeks, ended up 23.71% to 55.52 dollars. This corresponded to a capitalization of approximately $ 90 billion. Ford, which has recently invested heavily in electric vehicles, was at the same time worth 79 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.
The manufacturer of pickup and pickup trucks Rivian, for its part, appreciated 15.16% to 172.01 dollars, without any particular news. Its price has more than doubled since its IPO last Wednesday and it is now worth $ 152 billion on the stock market, more than Volkswagen.
The beachhead of the zero-emission vehicles sector, Tesla, also benefited from the ambient enthusiasm, climbing 4.08% even as, according to a new stock document dated Monday, its boss Elon Musk has sold a total of about $ 7.8 billion in shares since last week.
The group recently entered the small club of companies worth more than $ 1 trillion on Wall Street.
For Lucid, the release in September of the first vehicles intended for customers on the assembly line of its plant in Casa Grande in Arizona has sparked interest: bookings have climbed 30% since the end of September, to more than 17,000 bookings currently for a car costing a minimum of $ 77,400 in the United States and can climb to $ 169,000.
$ 232,000 in sales
The group received during the quarter a certification from the United States Environmental Agency ensuring that its Lucid Air sedan could travel more than 752 kilometers on a single charge, and up to 837 kilometers for the most efficient model.
Lucid Air was also named Car of the Year 2022 by the trade magazine MotorTrend on Monday.
This is the first time that a car manufacturer has won this bonus with its first model and it “should further increase reservations at 4e quarter, ”said Garrett Nelson of CFRA.
Lucid, which again recorded a net loss of $ 524 million in the third quarter on sales of just $ 232,000, still expects to produce 20,000 units in 2022 despite supply and logistics issues.
The company is in the process of expanding its only factory to add 265,000 square meters, which should enable it to reach by the end of 2023 a production capacity of 90,000 vehicles per year.
Lucid “has the only electric vehicle model currently on the market capable of competing in the same league as Tesla cars in terms of range, power and other qualities,” said Nelson.
The group’s share initially stagnated after it arrived on Wall Street in late July via the merger with a company already listed (SPAC) at around $ 25 before starting to gain height in late October.
Rivian, for his part, has been steadily climbing since his arrival on the NASDAQ with a bang less than a week ago, even though the company, still largely in deficit, only expects to have delivered 1,000 vehicles by the end of the year. When groups like Ford or Volkswagen sell several million a year.
The niche is still tiny, with electric vehicles accounting for only 3% of sales currently in the United States, and must prove its viability over the long term. But it attracts investors looking for investments in “green” companies or wishing to benefit from a stock market boom similar to that of Tesla.