Electric-vehicle startup Lucid has only just started production of its first model, the 2022 Air luxury sedan, but its share price has been on a tear since the company went public via a SPAC deal in July.
On Tuesday the share price shot up 24% following the release of positive news about reservations and production numbers, bringing Lucid's market value to $89.9 billion. That's higher than Ford's market value of $79 billion and close to General Motors' value of $90.9 billion.
If you thought that was crazy, you should note that that rival EV startup Rivian currently has a market value of $151.9 billion. Incredibly, that's up from the $85.9 billion it was worth just a week ago after its shares were first listed.
Tesla's market value is still above $1 trillion, despite CEO Elon Musk, the company's biggest shareholder, offloading about $7.8 billion worth of shares in the past week.
Lucid Air production
Investors piled into Lucid after the company on Monday announced that it had 17,000 reservations for the Air, up from 13,000 at the end of the third quarter. The company also said it expects to build 20,000 Airs in 2022.
While those numbers are still a fraction of what the likes of Ford and GM produce, some investors see Lucid more like a technology company. Lucid is already supplying battery-related services to Formula E, and the company has hinted that it may in the future license technology to other firms, including outside of the auto industry.
Lucid also has the potential to grow in the traditional car manufacturing business. The company's first plant is in Casa Grande, Arizona, but CEO Peter Rawlinson in an interview with CNBC published on Tuesday said Lucid plans to open plants in China and the Middle East by the middle of the decade.
Lucid was previously reported to be eying a plant in Saudi Arabia, the country whose sovereign wealth fund is the biggest investor in Lucid.
