Lucid Motors Going Public In Merger With Churchill Capital Valued At $24 Billion

Lucid Motors Going Public In Merger With Churchill Capital Valued At $24 Billion

The Lucid Air, initially priced at $169,000, goes into production in Casa Grande, Arizona, this spring.

Lucid Motors

Lucid Motors, an electric car startup led by the chief engineer for Tesla's Model S sedan, is going public by merging with Churchill Capital IV, a New York Stock Exchange-listed special purpose acquisition corporation, in a deal worth up to an estimated $24 billion. 

The development–which Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson recently told Forbes was a possible fundraising option–comes just weeks before the release of the Lucid Air, a premium electric sedan initially priced at $169,000 that will be built at the company's new Casa Grande, Arizona, factory. The deal includes about $2.1 billion of cash from Churchill Capital and $2.5 billion from a private share placement with investors including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Neuberger Berman, Wellington Management and Winslow Capital Management. 

“Lucid is going public to accelerate into the next phase of our growth” following the launch of the Air, Rawlinson, who is also the Newark, California-based company's CTO and a cofounder, said in a statement. Funds will help launch Lucid's second model, the Gravity SUV, in 2023 and “also be used to support expansion of our