We just reported that Lucid Motors, a US-based electric car startup that rivals Tesla, has opened one of its first retail and service centers in Europe. Right around the same time, it seems the high-end luxury EV maker started the process of recruiting in China. The company also recently opened its first store in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia.
China is a key market for automakers since it's the largest automotive market on the planet. Moreover, it has already become arguably the top spot for brands producing EVs. Tesla moved into the country and has been having much success. It also turned its location in Shanghai into its primary export hub. Locally, Tesla competes with a long list of EV makers, and it appears Lucid is preparing to join the club sooner rather than later.
According to Teslarati, multiple local reports surfaced just last week revealing that Lucid is already recruiting for a number of future job positions in China. The wide variety of positions range from retail and law to management and engineering. In total, Lucid had posted 14 available job positions in Shanghai at the time of writing, per the publication.
To be clear, it doesn't seem as though Lucid is just aiming to hire 14 employees in China. Rather, the company may need several people to fill at least some of the various positions. If you're interested in working for Lucid in China, you'll either need to be able to speak both Chinese and English or have prior work experience in companies in the country.
Among Lucid's job postings in China are three for hardware engineering. Teslarati notes that three other positions are specific to the automaker's localizing efforts in the country. Lucid would be wise to make every effort to establish positive relationships in China and work specifically on the local side of its business model, as we know Tesla had many issues settling in early on.
In a time when virtually every automaker across the globe is struggling to make ends meet, an EV startup is a very difficult business model. Automotive startups rarely succeed in the US, let alone successfully expand across the globe, but we're watching a new automotive market unfold.
There's no doubt it will be a long and rocky road for Lucid, much like it has been for Tesla. However, we can only hope that as time goes on, Lucid is able to carve a spot on a long list of the world's successful EV startups.
