Lucid slashes 18% of staff in latest round of cuts

Lucid Motors is laying off roughly 1,500 workers, equal to 18 percent of its total headcount, only four months after reducing its payroll by 12 percent. The automaker also confirmed it has ended the second production shift at the factory in Casa Grande, Arizona.

New leadership regime initiates overhaul. Silvio Napoli, who formally took the CEO title on June 1 after decades at Schindler Group, the Swiss maker of elevators and escalators, described the restructuring as one that will "simplify the company, sharpen execution, and position Lucid to become more competitive over time," according to the company.

The action marks the second large-scale layoff since a leadership team barely three weeks old assumed control. Napoli inherits an operation that has seen more than a dozen senior executives depart over the past two years.

COO exit and financial targets reported. According to Reuters and CNBC, COO Marc Winterhoff has departed and the position has been removed. Bloomberg indicated the company anticipates cash charges of approximately $32 million along with roughly $158 million in yearly cost reductions.

The job reductions arrive while the US EV market cools and several automakers scale back their electric-vehicle ambitions. Lucid is pursuing wider expense reductions as rivalry intensifies.

Output and operational effects. Removing the extra shift will lower near-term production at the Arizona plant. The changes target softening demand for electric vehicles that has triggered comparable steps throughout the sector.

This represents the first significant decision from the incoming CEO. Lucid has not released specifics on the departments affected most severely.