Shares of the electric vehicle maker Lucid Group (LCID -3.03%) jumped this morning, on seemingly no company-specific news. Rather, Lucid's shares are likely gaining traction after a new report showed that EV sales gained ground in November.
Lucid's share price was up by 14.2% as of 11:25 a.m. ET.
A shift in EV momentum
A new Cox Automotive report released yesterday said that EV sales jumped to 116,072 in November, a 13.6% increase from the same time last year. That represented an impressive 10% increase from the previous month and marked the second-largest month of EV sales in 2024.
Much of the recent EV demand stems from buyers moving quickly to buy an electric vehicle while tax credits, worth up to $7,500, still exist. President-elect Donald Trump has said he's open to eliminating the tax credit, so some buyers are taking advantage of the free money now.
Lucid's vehicles don't qualify for the credit because they're too expensive, but the company has its own $7,500 credit it's currently offering to buyers who finance its Air sedan and up to $17,500 in its own credits for leases. The company is also offering up to two years in complimentary charging.
It's offers like this that are helping to end-of-the-year sales growth for the EV industry, and Lucid investors are likely seeing the latest Cox Automotive data and hoping that the same will be true for Lucid's sales.
A slow increase to production
Lucid's management said recently that the company will produce about 9,000 vehicles for the full year, a very modest 6.8% increase from 8,428 vehicles in 2023.
While it's good for Lucid investors that the general EV market is experiencing growth at the end of this year, they may want to temper some of their expectations. Lucid likely won't report its fourth-quarter results until mid-February, so investors will have to wait a while to see how the company's vehicles sales and production performed.
Today's share price move appears to be more of a positive sentiment Lucid investors have toward the general EV market, rather than specific news from the EV maker.
