Lucid layoffs: 1,500 jobs cut, COO Marc Winterhoff out — EV maker has now shed nearly 30% of its workforce in 4 months

Lucid Group announced Monday that it will lay off about 18% of its U.S. workforce as part of a sweeping cost-cutting plan, marking the Saudi-backed electric vehicle maker’s second major round of layoffs in 2026.

The cuts, which affect full-time employees, contractors and hourly production workers in the manufacturing sector, are expected to save about $158 million annually. Lucid also confirmed that Chief Operating Officer Marc Winterhoff is leaving with immediate effect and said the COO role has been permanently eliminated.

Who is Leaving and What Changes at the Top?

Winterhoff served as Lucid’s interim chief executive for more than a year before Silvio Napoli officially took over as CEO on June 1. Despite earlier indications that Winterhoff would remain with the company in an operational capacity, Monday’s announcement confirmed his departure as well as the elimination of the position.

Napoli, whose background is in industrial manufacturing rather than the automotive industry (he spent his career at Swiss elevator and escalator maker Schindler Group), is now leading the company through what is shaping up to be one of the most significant restructuring efforts in its history.

Lucid’s executive suite has experienced significant turmoil in recent years. Long-time CEO Peter Rawlinson left abruptly in February 2025. Chief Engineer Eric Bach was released in late 2025 and subsequently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit. More than a dozen top executives have left the company in the past two years.

Size and Cost of Outages

Lucid had approximately 9,000 employees worldwide as of December 31, 2025. The 18% reduction represents approximately 1,500 positions among full-time staff, contractors and hourly production workers at the AMP-1 plant in Casa Grande, Arizona.

The company said it expects to incur cash charges of approximately $32 million related to severance pay, employee benefits and transition support to affected workers. In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lucid said it would also eliminate the second production shift at its Arizona facility and further cut production as it tries to reduce inventory levels.

“These are difficult decisions to align production with demand, reduce inventory and adapt to declining market conditions,” a spokesperson for Lucid said. “They are part of a broader effort to simplify the company, sharpen execution, and position Lucid to become more competitive over time.”

Second Round of Cuts in Four Months

Monday’s announcement is Lucid’s second major workforce reduction this year. In February, the company eliminated about 12% of its U.S. workforce for profitability purposes; it was a series of cuts that cost about $40 million in the near term but was expected to save up to $500 million within a few years.

Taken together, the two rounds of cuts in 2026 cut Lucid’s headcount by close to 30% in a single year; That’s an unusual pace of restructuring even by the standards of an EV sector that has generally contracted since post-pandemic growth retreated.

Cooling Electric Vehicle Market and the End of Federal Incentives

The backdrop to Lucid’s difficulties is the US electric vehicle market, which has changed significantly from the conditions that prevailed when the company went public in 2021 and is projected to produce hundreds of thousands of vehicles per year.

The Trump administration’s elimination of the $7,500 federal tax credit for EV purchases eliminated a key financial incentive for buyers in the lower and middle range of the market. Tougher fuel efficiency targets have also been rolled back, reducing regulatory pressure on traditional automakers to accelerate their transition to electric vehicles and, in turn, reducing the urgency that once underpinned consumer interest in the sector.

Major automakers have removed electric models from their product plans. Meanwhile, electric-only startups are navigating a market where demand is not growing at the pace previous forecasts assumed and competition from established manufacturers is intensifying on a much larger scale.

Lucid suspended its 2026 production target entirely last month, citing the need to evaluate business operations under new leadership. The company had initially guided for 25,000 to 27,000 vehicles in 2026; this was already a significant step back from the goals it laid out at the time of the IPO.

Financial Picture

The magnitude of Lucid’s financial problem is significant. The company lost $2.7 billion on $1.35 billion in revenue in 2025 and reported negative free cash flow of $3.8 billion for the year, about 31% more than the previous year’s figure.

Lucid is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which continues to provide financial support that allows the company to absorb cascading losses without facing an immediate existential crisis. This support has been a critical lifeline but has not solved the fundamental challenge of building a sustainable business within current production volumes and cost structures.

At its first investor day in March in nearly five years, Lucid said it expects to be cash flow positive toward the end of this decade.

What’s Next: A Bet on the Universe and the Mass Market

Despite the disruptions, Lucid has not abandoned its product roadmap. The company is betting its near-term hopes on two upcoming mass-market electric crossovers. Expected to start at under $50,000 and positioned to rival the Tesla Model Y and Rivian R2, the Lucid Cosmos is scheduled to begin production before the end of this year. A second model, Lucid Earth, is expected to arrive by the end of 2027.

The company is also trying to gain a foothold in the autonomous vehicle industry, partnering with Uber and robotics company Nuro on a luxury robotaxi service scheduled to launch in San Francisco later this year.

Whether these bets will be enough to stabilize the business will depend largely on whether Napoli can bring to Lucid the operational discipline that the company has long promised but has struggled to deliver on. Two mass layoffs in four months, a revolving door of senior executives and an already suspended production target suggest the reset is still very much in progress.