Lucid Motors Names Silvio Napoli New CEO, Secures $750 Million in New Commitments From Uber and Saudi PIF
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors has tapped veteran industrial executive Silvio Napoli as its new permanent chief executive officer, wrapping up a more than year-long search launched after the abrupt departure of former leader Peter Rawlinson.
The company confirmed the appointment in an announcement Tuesday, noting that Napoli — who has held a range of senior leadership roles at global elevator and escalator firm Schindler Group over the past several decades — will also join Lucid’s board of directors.
Alongside the CEO appointment, Lucid unveiled two major new capital commitments:
Ride-hailing giant Uber has pledged an additional $200 million to Lucid, and has agreed to purchase 25,000 more robotaxi-ready units of Lucid’s upcoming mid-size EV. This brings Uber’s total committed investment in Lucid to $500 million, and lifts its total minimum vehicle order to 35,000 units.
Lucid’s majority owner, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), is purchasing an additional $550 million of Lucid common stock.
Tuesday’s announcements arrive at a make-or-break juncture for Lucid. After struggling to capture mass market demand for its flagship Air sedan, the company is currently working to scale production and sales of its second model, the Gravity SUV. Lucid is also preparing to launch the first of three vehicles built on its new mid-size platform, a line targeted at shoppers looking for a new EV priced around $50,000.
The company has implemented aggressive cost-cutting measures to get the affordable mid-size model into production. Per earlier TechCrunch reporting, Lucid cut 18% of its global workforce in February. In a regulatory filing released Tuesday, the company added that it has recently reduced contractor headcount at its Arizona factory to improve cost efficiency.
Lucid has been without a permanent CEO since February 2025, when Rawlinson stepped down suddenly. Chief Operating Officer Marc Winterhoff has served as interim CEO in the intervening period, and previous TechCrunch reporting notes Winterhoff was in the running for the permanent role even as Lucid cast a wide global net for external candidates. Winterhoff’s interim tenure, however, coincided with multiple high-profile quality issues during the Gravity SUV’s rollout.
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Napoli will not take over the CEO role immediately. Per Lucid’s regulatory filing, he still needs to secure official approval to work in the United States. Until that authorization is granted, he will serve as an executive director on Lucid’s board under a Swiss employment agreement, aligned with his current residency in Switzerland. Lucid expects Napoli to receive U.S. work permission in the coming weeks, after which Winterhoff will return to his full-time role as chief operating officer.
Napoli’s compensation package as CEO is substantial: he will earn a $1.5 million annual base salary, receive a $1 million relocation stipend for his move to the U.S., get a performance bonus eligibility, an initial stock grant worth nearly $10 million, and a performance-based equity package that could be worth tens of millions of dollars if the company hits key growth targets.
Uber’s new commitment comes just one day after the ride-hailing firm and its autonomous vehicle partner Nuro launched testing of modified Lucid Gravity SUVs for a premium robotaxi service set to launch in San Francisco later this year. Uber first partnered with Lucid and Nuro last July, when it made an initial $300 million investment and agreed to buy a minimum of 20,000 Gravity SUVs for the program. Earlier this year at an investor day, Lucid revealed it was nearing a deal to add its upcoming affordable mid-size vehicles to Uber’s order book. The finalized deal announced Tuesday also adjusts the original Gravity order, lowering its minimum volume to 10,000 units.
The new PIF share purchase is the latest in a long line of capital injections from the Saudi fund, which first made a company-saving investment in Lucid back in 2018.
Lucid Motors Names Silvio Napoli New CEO, Secures $750 Million in New Commitments From Uber and Saudi PIF
