Lucid Motors, a rising star in the electric vehicle market, is revving up to start production at its first manufacturing plant in Casa Grande, Arizona this spring, CEO Peter Rawlinson told Cheddar.
"To the best of my knowledge, it's the first purpose-built greenfield EV plant in North America. It's been constructed in record time, and it's got state-of-the-art facilities," he said.
The California-based firm broke ground on the factory one year ago. Now it plans to start rolling tech-heavy electric vehicles off of the manufacturing line by spring of 2021. The plant will produce 30,000 units per year in its initial phase and ramp up to 400,000 units "later in the decade," Rawlinson said.
The CEO attributed the company's speed in building the plant to its flexibility and size.
"The agility of a small company like Lucid helps us enormously," he said. "We're able to set up and establish our own most appropriate processes and central to that is the production process, which will ensure a wonderfully high-quality product for customers."
That flexible approach extends to the construction of the plant itself, which is designed to grow with the company over a 590-acre footprint.
Lucid Motors' ramp-up also happens to be taking place amid a major political transition that could have significant implications for the U.S. electric vehicle market.
"I think there's a real great opportunity here for the U.S. to regain leadership," Rawlinson said.
He noted that while America may have the most technical expertise — due to the leading position of companies such as Tesla — the country is "lagging" when it comes to government policy.
"If we look at the worldwide picture, probably China takes the lead in that, frankly, and then Europe," he said.
Rawlinson added that he has "high hopes" the Biden administration will provide more support to electric vehicles. At the same time, he stressed that Lucid's launch model will stand on its own.
"This car stands on its own merit in the market," he said. "We don't need the artificial construct of incentives. This is inherently a better car than its gasoline counterpart."
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
