New CEO Silvio Napoli eliminates 1,500 jobs and the COO role as the U.S. EV market cools sharply
Lucid Motors announced on Monday, that it is cutting approximately 18% of its U.S. workforce — around 1,500 full-time employees, contractors, and hourly production workers — the second mass layoff the electric vehicle maker has carried out in less than five months. The cuts are the first major strategic move by new chief executive Silvio Napoli, who formally assumed the role on June 1.
The company said the restructuring is designed to simplify the company, sharpen execution, and position Lucid to become more competitive over time, according to a June 22 regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Lucid said the plan will generate annualized savings of approximately $158 million and is expected to complete by the third quarter of 2026. The company will pay roughly $32 million in severance to affected workers.
COO eliminated as leadership structure flattens
Marc Winterhoff, who served as interim chief executive for more than a year before Napoli took over, has departed the company effective immediately. Lucid said in the SEC filing that the chief operating officer position Winterhoff most recently held has been eliminated entirely, a signal that Napoli intends to flatten the company's leadership structure. Per the filing, Winterhoff will receive severance, certain security support, and will be permitted to keep his company vehicle.
Lucid also confirmed it has eliminated the second production shift at its manufacturing facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, aligning output with what it described as 'anticipated demand.' The company said it needs to reduce elevated vehicle inventory — a common indicator that production has outpaced retail sales.
A cooling market and a company under strain
The cuts arrive as the U.S. electric vehicle market faces significant headwinds, with major automakers scaling back their EV product plans. Lucid, majority-owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, reported a net loss of $2.7 billion on revenue of $1.35 billion in 2025, with negative free cash flow of $3.8 billion — roughly 31% larger than the year prior, per CNBC. The company has suspended its forward financial guidance while Napoli completes his operational review.
Lucid has also seen significant executive turnover. Founder and longtime CEO Peter Rawlinson abruptly resigned in February 2025. Chief engineer Eric Bach was let go in late 2025 and subsequently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, which has been stayed pending arbitration. Open roles at the company have fallen from nearly 800 a year ago to approximately 180, according to reporting by EV.
What this means for HR leaders
The Lucid situation illustrates the compounding workforce risk that comes with rapid executive turnover paired with repeated restructuring. Employees who have now lived through two rounds of cuts in a single year face acute uncertainty, and survivor syndrome is among the costliest and least-managed consequences of repeat reductions. Research from Gartner has also found that workforce reductions frequently fail to generate the return on investment executives anticipate, a caution that applies to restructuring driven by market softening as much as to AI-linked cuts.
As HRD America has reported, the way companies communicate repeated layoffs shapes retention and trust among remaining employees in ways that outlast the restructuring itself. Lucid is pushing ahead with its first mass-market vehicle, the Lucid Cosmos SUV, expected later in 2026 at a starting price under $50,000. Whether a significantly smaller organization can deliver that program on schedule will be the first real test of Napoli's restructuring logic.
