Electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors has said it plans to acquire some of the assets of bankrupt Nikola, which made electric and hydrogen-powered trucks, with job offers planned for more than 300 Nikola employees.
California-based Lucid said it planned to buy Nikola’s factory in Coolidge, outside of Phoenix, as well as Nikola’s former headquarters in Phoenix, adding more than 884,000 square feet to its Arizona presence.
Lucid, which is known for its Air luxury electric sedan and recently launched Gravity SUV, already operates a plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, about 25 miles from the Coolidge factory.
EV plant
Lucid said most of the real estate is comprised of state-of-the-art manufacturing and warehousing buildings, including development equipment, battery and environmental testing chambers, a chassis dynamometer and machining equipment.
It valued the deal at $30 million (£22.9m) in cash and non-cash considerations.
The company said it intended to offer jobs to more than 300 former Nikola staff, including various salaried and hourly positions such as manufacturing engineering, software, assembly, vehicle testing, and warehouse support positions.
Lucid chief Marc Winterhoff said the buy was a means of progressing its existing expansion plans.
The Air and Gravity are based on the same platform, and the company is currently developing a new vehicle platform for smaller and less expensive EVs.
Expansion plans
In addition to manufacturing vehicles, Lucid provides technology to other carmakers including Aston Martin.
Nikola, which had been based in Phoenix, declared bankruptcy in February after several years of turmoil exacerbated by slowing demand and other economic difficulties that have also beset other EV makers, including Lucid and Rivian.
The company initially produced battery-powered semi trucks and later shifted towards trucks powered by hydrogen cells.
Nikola recalled all of its vehicles in 2023 following a series of fires.