WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE GLARING PROBLEM WITH LUCID
There's more to Lucid Motors than meets the eye
Lucid Motors is getting lots of attention recently - and rightly so. Their new car, the Air, has an EPA estimated range of up to 520 miles, all while being the company's first vehicle. The Air is downright gorgeous, with beautiful design and a seemingly lovely interior. But, there's a bit of a problem that no one seems to be talking about.
In 2019, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (a part of the Saudi government) bought a majority share of Lucid Motors for $1.3 billion dollars. This means that this "California-based" startup is now controlled by the Saudi government. When covering Lucid, automotive news outlets seem oblivious to this fact, and are simply not reporting on it.
WHY IS THIS AN ISSUE?
Now, you can do whatever you want when it's your money, but I don't feel comfortable supporting a country that murders journalists, doesn't allow women to go outside without a man, and where being gay is punishable by death. And that's not even mentioning the kingdom's many human rights abuses and alleged war crimes in their war with Houthi rebels in Yemen.
HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM AMERICAN COMPANIES?
The issue I have with Lucid is not that it is a company controlled by someone in Saudi Arabia, but rather that it is controlled by the Saudi government. I have no problem with Volvo being owned by Geely, a Chinese company, but if Volvo were controlled by the Chinese Communist Party I wouldn't buy a Volvo. It's a similar story here. There's nothing wrong with a coroporation being based in Saudi Arabia, no more than if it were based in the US. But when an oppressive regime is IN CONTROL of a company selling a $100k+ car, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving them that money.
WHY I'M DISAPPOINTED
The reason that I'm so disappointed is because I genuinely excited about Lucid and wanted them to succeed. I was hoping for it to be a company that had Tesla tech without Tesla problems, but more importantly I really like the product. The Lucid Air is beautiful, has ridiculous performance, and has the highest range of any production EV ever. Lucid has something special, and while I certainly like their car, I cannot support them. And while it doesn't ultimately make any difference to me as I'm not really able to afford it per se, I was still excited to see them on the road and for the company as a whole to thrive.
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