Lucid CEO Says Tracking Failures Cost the Company Orders

WHO:

Electrek - Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli said the company had not known where some of its cars were.

Electrek - Lucid CFO Alexander De Bock reported that finished-goods inventory fell by almost 15% during Q3.

Electrek - Tesla CEO Elon Musk described Tesla’s delivery challenges as “delivery logistics hell” and said the company faced an “extreme shortage of car carrier trailers.”

Electrek - Tesla and Lucid are electric-vehicle makers; Lucid is described as a Tesla rival.

WHAT:

Electrek - Napoli said some Lucid customers waited as long as two weeks for a car to be located and delivered, and some canceled their orders.

Electrek - Napoli said Lucid now tracks which cars are being built, where they are shipped and stored, and when they can reach customers. A new commercial team sells cars available on the customer’s preferred day.

Electrek - Lucid built 3,228 more vehicles than it delivered in the first half of 2026. In Q1, it built 5,500 and delivered 3,093.

Electrek - Lucid reported inventory of $1.38 billion at the end of June and $1.22 billion on September 30.

Electrek - Lucid produced 2,954 vehicles and delivered 3,806 in Q3; deliveries were down 7% year over year.

Electrek - Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in Q3 2018, including 55,840 Model 3s.

Electrek - Tesla built its own car carriers, introduced door-to-door delivery, sought help from existing owners at delivery centers, bought trucking companies, and secured contracts with major haulers.

Electrek - Tesla’s first Model 3 ship to Europe docked at Zeebrugge, Belgium. Tesla took over port preparation work from its contractor, targeting 3,000 cars per week through one port.

Electrek - Tesla delivered more than 5,300 Model 3s in Norway in March 2019, making it the country’s best-selling car by a wide margin.

Engadget - Lucid’s third-quarter earnings performance was described as underperforming.

WHERE:

Electrek - Tesla’s European Model 3 deliveries involved Zeebrugge, Belgium, and Norway.

Electrek - Tesla moved cars east by truck rather than rail to shorten transit times.

WHEN:

Electrek - Napoli said Lucid’s car-location and delivery problems existed at the start of Q3 and as recently as that summer.

Electrek - Tesla faced delivery-logistics problems during its Model 3 ramp in 2018; the first Model 3 ship reached Europe in February 2019.

Electrek - Tesla changed its port-preparation arrangement about a week after the first ship arrived.

WHY:

Electrek - Lucid lost orders because it could take up to two weeks to identify and deliver an available car.

Electrek - Tesla’s delivery bottleneck shifted from production to transportation as Model 3 output increased.

HOW:

Electrek - Tesla addressed delivery delays with its own car carriers, direct-to-customer delivery, owner assistance, trucking acquisitions and contracts, and truck transport east instead of rail.

(UPDATED November 11, 2026 13:06 UTC)

Lucid struggled to locate cars, leaving some customers waiting two weeks and canceling orders. The company has improved tracking, while finished-goods inventory fell nearly fifteen percent in the third quarter. Tesla once faced similar delivery-logistics bottlenecks, deploying its own carriers and door-to-door delivery.