Lucid Motors gets real as Saudi funding comes throughLucid Motors gets real as Saudi funding comes through

Things just got real for Tesla competitor Lucid Motors.
The company, which announced a $1 billion deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund last September, confirmed on Thursday that the investment is complete. That could make Lucid the most realistic competitor to Tesla yet, as it plans to bring its nearly fully developed Lucid Air to production next year and now has the funding to do so.
READ THIS: Saudi investment fund takes $1 billion stake in Lucid Motors
Lucid is privately held, so terms of the deal have not been revealed, but the Saudi fund is thought to have acquired a majority stake in Lucid. The Saudi investment fund also owns a 5 percent stake in Tesla.
The Lucid Air is an electric luxury sedan starting with a 240-mile range and 400 horsepower. It could start at around $60,000, while a higher-end version will have 1,000 horsepower, 400 miles of range, executive reclining rear seats, and has been clocked at 217 mph at the Transportation Research Center test track in Ohio.
CHECK OUT: Lucid Air electric luxury sedan: a Tesla Model S owner’s take
Lucid says the car will be “self-driving ready.”
Based in Newark, California, the company has also broken ground on a factory to build the cars in Casa Grande, Arizona, and is working on an SUV to follow up the Air.
DON’T MISS: Lucid owners will get access to Electrify America’s chargers, another jab at Tesla
The company also announced a deal to provide Air buyers with access to Electrify America’s network of fast chargers to, eventually, rival Tesla’s Supercharger network. 
The new funding looks set to move Lucid ahead of other startup electric-car competitors such as Faraday Future, SF Motors, and possibly even Chinese startups such as Byton and Nio, in bringing Tesla some new electric luxury competition.

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