Succumbing to the winds of change, the all-electric vehicle maker Lucid Group announced several major overhauls to its operations on Monday (US time). In a bid to cut costs, the company announced it is laying off approximately 18% of its US workforce.
However, employee reductions weren’t the only major shocker the firm relayed. It also eliminated the COO role entirely, resulting in the immediate exit of Chief Operating Officer Marc Winterhoff.
Lucid incurred a loss of $2.7 billion on revenue of $1.35 billion in 2025. Last year, CNBC reported it had a negative free cash flow of $3.8 billion. The company was already struggling with declining sales in a challenging US EV market, reporting Q1 2026 revenue of $282.5 million, which fell short of analyst expectations of $389.2 million.
Furthermore, the Donald Trump administration’s recent revisions—which eliminate the $7,500 federal incentive for purchasing an EV as part of the US president’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’—have severely impacted these automotive brands.
EV maker Lucid reacts to latest layoffs and other changes
A Lucid spokesperson has since addressed the development in a statement, saying, “These are difficult decisions taken to align production with demand, reduce inventory, and adapt to declining market conditions,” as quoted by CNBC.
“They are part of a broader effort to simplify the company, sharpen execution, and position Lucid to become more competitive over time.”
The latest leadership upheaval at Lucid made headlines after the company said last month that CEO Silvio Napoli would evaluate Lucid’s business operations. Consequently, the company suspended its vehicle production guidance for the year, saying it needs to lower its “elevated inventory” of vehicles.
Lucid layoffs 2026: Who has been affected?
The latest wave of EV layoffs will impact Lucid’s full-time employees, contractors, and hourly production workers in manufacturing, according to a company filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These cuts follow a previous round of layoffs at Lucid in February. At the time, the company cut about 12% of its workforce while aiming for profitability. As of December 31, the automaker had about 9,000 employees globally.
Although the official document didn’t list the exact number of workers impacted by the sweeping job cuts, it said the reductions resulted in the elimination of the second shift of production at its AMP-1 factory.
The EV maker further highlighted that its new plan would yield annualised cost savings of approximately $158 million. Meanwhile, it also expects to incur cash charges of approximately $32 million linked to severance, employee benefits, and employee transition.
Lucid’s plan is expected to complete its restructuring, which involves major exits and disposal activities, by the end of the third quarter of 2026, according to the official SEC filing.
Its cuts come merely days after its industry rival, startup Rivian, laid off hundreds of employees—less than 2% of its workforce—impacting teams in service and customer segments. These major changes are being introduced at a time when EV makers are doing their best to sustain themselves in a competitive market. Even Elon Musk’s EV giant Tesla cut 12% of its staff merely months ago.
Lucid COO’s exit is effective immediately
In its official filing, the company underscored that COO Marc Winterhoff was departing Lucid, effective immediately, as the position is being eliminated altogether.
Winterhoff previously served as interim CEO until Silvio Napoli took charge from June onwards. He notably took on the top job after longtime CEO Peter Rawlinson unexpectedly resigned in February 2025.
Under the ‘Company’s Executive Severance Plan,’ outgoing COO Winterhoff is also eligible to receive severance benefits. Additionally, the EV maker has agreed to provide certain continued security support and let him keep his company vehicle.
Other major exits at Lucid in the recent past have included SVP of engineering and software Emad Dlala and SVP of strategy Claudia Gast. Both of them quit earlier this year.
Moreover, chief engineer Eric Bach was fired in November 2025 after a decade-long career at the company. He has since sued the EV maker for wrongful termination and discrimination, claiming that one of the top HR executives referred to him as a “German Nazi.”
The federal lawsuit filed in December 2025 stated that Bach believes he was targeted for his German heritage. Lucid, on the other hand, slammed the legal claims as “absurd” in a statement to TechCrunch at the time.