Struggling electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors has delayed the launch of its midsize crossover, the Cosmos, until the second half of 2027.
Originally slated to arrive this year with a target price under $50,000 USD, the entry-level EV was and is meant to deliver much-needed volume sales. It constitutes a central piece of a plan meant to stem heavy financial losses, cut costs and fix past quality missteps.
Lucid posted a Q2 net loss of over $1 billion despite delivering 3,953 vehicles. That represented a 19-percent year-over-year increase, but it’s not enough to put the company in the black.
See: Lucid Patents Design of Cosmos, Future Rival to Model Y, Rivian R2
To address what CEO Silvio Napoli called an unsustainable cash burn, the company aims to secure $1.4 billion in savings through 2026. This strategy includes trimming $500 million in capital expenditures, reducing current production of the Air sedan and Gravity SUV to manage inventory, and restructuring operations to streamline leadership.
The delay of the Cosmos, a sleek, coupe-like crossover intended to challenge the Tesla Model Y and Rivian R2, isn’t great news, but the company portrays it as a calculated move to avoid repeating the quality and software issues that plagued early launches of the Air and Gravity. Napoli emphasized that the Cosmos will only go to market when all quality requirements are met.
The extra time also allows Lucid to finish construction on its AM2 manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia, where the Cosmos will be fully assembled using its newly developed Atlas drive units. Cold-weather testing for prototypes is already underway in New Zealand, alongside a more boxy, conventional sibling variant named the Earth.
While work continues on the midsize platform, Lucid is shifting short-term attention to other projects. Its robotaxi partnership with Uber and Nuro remains a top priority, with final production models expected in late 2026. The automaker is moving up the unveiling of a high-performance version of its three-row Gravity SUV. It will debut at the Monterey Car Week in California this month as a rival to elite EVs like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric.
