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President Donald Trump‘s tariffs are causing carnage in the car industry — but they could provide a boost for one Tesla rival.
Lucid CEO Marc Winterhoff said several carmakers had contacted the EV startup about using its Arizona factory to circumvent the tariffs on imported vehicles.
“We’ve seen interest in our manufacturing capability in Arizona. As carmakers look for more capital-efficient strategies to make vehicles in the US, we’ve seen several inbound inquiries to discuss possible cooperation,” he told investors on an earnings call on Tuesday.
“It’s still early and talks are preliminary, but the President and the administration want to have a strong manufacturing sector in the US, and we are looking at potential ways we can leverage our assets,” said Winterhoff, who took over as interim CEO of Lucid in February.
The Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on imported cars and auto parts have sparked a scramble for carmakers to move as much production to the US as possible.
Stellantis, Volvo, and Mercedes have all unveiled plans to build more models in the US to get around the tariffs. General Motors, which is facing a $5 billion hit from the levies, said it would offset some costs by building more cars and components in the US.
EV firms such as Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid are less exposed to the tariffs because they build all their cars for the US market locally. Lucid has spare capacity after buying the manufacturing facilities of bankrupt electric truck startup Nikola last month.
“We have had several players reaching out to us, exploring joint manufacturing in the US, given that we now have additional assets that we can leverage,” said Winteroff.
Lucid reported first-quarter earnings below analyst expectations on Tuesday, but maintained its target of producing 20,000 vehicles this year despite the tariff uncertainty.
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