Lucid Motor’s (NASDAQ: LCID) production facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, is set to expand three-fold after Pinal County purchased 1,400 additional acres of land from 14 property owners for $113.5 million. The Lucid site is currently around 600 acres.
The land lease agreement from Pinal County will bring Lucid’s manufacturing site to 2,000 acres in total, which could bring the site to the size of an OEM manufacturing campus for the automaker and its suppliers.
Lucid could hire more than 6,000 people when the project is completed.
Earlier this month, Teslarati reported that Lucid is planning to expand its production plant, known as AMP-1, with construction beginning in 2023. The plant is being built in a series of phases, with the third phase set to begin sometime next year. The project could extend “possibly into 2025,” documents seen by Teslarati said.
Business Journal Phoenix is now reporting that Pinal County came to a lease agreement for 1,400 additional acres worth $113.5 million.
The additional acreage could be utilized for additional buildings that are set to be built as a part of the Phase 3 project. We learned that existing buildings would also be expanded as Lucid hopes to boost production at the plant to 400,000 units per year. The company continues to release new trim levels of its Air sedan, most recently unveiling the Sapphire, which is among the fastest EVs and could compete with the Tesla Model S Plaid.
The Phase 3 project also will add a Customer Experience Center, which will require an expansion of roadways near the site. The City of Casa Grande is funding this project with a $7 million investment, which will see Thorton Road, Selma Highway, and Peters Road expand considerably.
Lucid started Phase 2 of AMP-1 expansion in late 2020, which saw the construction and modification of several facilities, including the Body in White building, Stamping Plant, General Assembly Building, and others.
Lucid is struggling to ramp production of its vehicles currently, only delivering 679 vehicles in Q2. Lucid cut its production goals for the year by 5o percent at the end of the quarter, citing “extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges.”
“We’ve identified the primary bottlenecks, and we are taking appropriate measures,” CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson said. “We continue to see strong demand for our vehicles, with over 37,000 customer reservations, and I remain confident that we shall overcome these near-term challenges with a relentless tenacity and a steely determination.”
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