Feb 24 (Reuters) - Electric vehicle maker Lucid LCID.O beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue on Tuesday and forecast a production rise that could top 50% this year as it ramps up its recently launched Gravity sport utility vehicles and prepares to roll out a new, mid-sized vehicle.
But Lucid reported losses higher than analysts' expectations. Last week, Lucid laid off 12% of its U.S. workforce as the company cuts costs amid a challenging market for EVs after the U.S. ended the federal tax credit of $7,500 for new EVs in September.
Lucid, backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, is betting on the Gravity SUV, with a starting price of $79,900, to prop up sales this year.
But the success of Lucid's midsize EV platform, expected late this year with a starting price of under $50,000, is seen as critical to attracting a broader swathe of customers and shaping the luxury EV maker's road ahead.
Lucid said it will produce between 25,000 and 27,000 vehicles in 2026. Last year, it produced 17,840 vehicles.
The company said it produced 7,874 vehicles in the fourth quarter, revising it down from 8,412 vehicles it reported last month, saying it had found 538 had not completed certain procedures to be classified as produced. It delivered a record of 5,345 vehicles in the fourth quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates, according to Visible Alpha data.
For the quarter ended December, Lucid reported a 123% jump in revenue to $522.7 million, compared with the analysts' average estimate of $468 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The company posted an adjusted loss of $3.08 per share, compared with the estimated loss of $2.62 per share.
The company rolled out discounts and promotional offers on its luxury Air sedans last year to appeal to consumers scaling back big-ticket purchases due to high borrowing costs.
The company is also focusing on developing its advanced driver-assistance system and software, a crucial and potentially lucrative offering that many automakers are racing to deliver to customers.
Lucid partnered with Uber UBER.N and self-driving technology startup Nuro last year with a plan to launch a robotaxi fleet.
The automaker faced production challenges, supply-chain disruptions and escalating costs in 2025, with an impact from U.S. President Donald Trump's flip-flopping tariff policies.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Alan Barona)
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