Key Points

• Lucid has announced a deal to provide at least 20,000 EVs equipped with self-driving hardware to Uber over six years.

• The deal includes a $300 million equity investment from Uber.

• The stock jumped on the news but soon fell back.

• 10 stocks we like better than Lucid Group ›

On July 18, electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors (NASDAQ: LCID) announced that it had signed a deal with Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) and self-driving developer Nuro. Lucid will supply no fewer than 20,000 Gravity SUVs equipped with Nuro's Level 4 self-driving systems to Uber for use in a new upscale robotaxi service.

Production of the self-driving Gravity is expected to start by the end of 2026, Lucid said. Those 20,000 vehicles (or more) are to be delivered over the following six years.

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As part of the deal, Uber agreed to invest $300 million in Lucid. (Uber is also making a significant investment in Nuro, though the specifics haven't been released.)

Lucid's shares soared after the deal was announced. But the rally didn't last long. Where does that leave Lucid investors now?

The Uber deal looks great for Lucid

The deal looks like a good one for Lucid, for three reasons that I can see.

First, selling 20,000 vehicles isn't nothing. Even though it's over six years -- and even though the clock doesn't start running until the first one ships, likely late next year -- 20,000 vehicles is a nice piece of business for a company that delivered just 10,241 vehicles in 2024.

Second, placing the Gravity in Uber's planned luxury robotaxi service could have other benefits.

Lucid's Gravity SUV and Air sedan are excellent electric vehicles, in some ways the best EVs yet built by anyone, with superb batteries and advanced software. The company's challenge has always been getting affluent potential customers to try them. An upscale robotaxi service will give a lot of potential customers their first tastes of Lucid's quality and technology. If it's good, sales are likely to result.

Lucid expects to begin production of the Nuro-equipped self-driving Gravity SUVs for Uber by the end of 2026. Image source: Lucid.

Finally, that $300 million investment will be a welcome addition to Lucid's cash hoard, which totaled $3.6 billion (plus another roughly $1.3 billion in available credit lines) as of the end of the second quarter.

It seems like a good deal for Lucid, no? I certainly can't see anything in this deal to worry about. But Lucid's stock rally didn't last very long.

Why not? I think cash is a key part of that discussion.

The big concern that is holding back the stock

The key investor concern around Lucid always comes down to cash. Like any automaker of any size, Lucid uses a lot of cash -- but it doesn't yet generate enough cash to cover what it spends.

That isn't news, but here's why it has become more of a concern.

Lucid is working on a new range of models one size down from the Air and Gravity. Those "midsize" models, Lucid says, will be less expensive than current Lucids, making the company's technology available to a wider range of potential customers. Lucid expects to have the first of those new models in production by the end of 2026.

The hope is that those new models will sell well enough to carry Lucid to profitability. But developing new models requires cash -- lots of cash. Does Lucid have enough cash to get there?

The answer is "Maybe." Lucid's largest investor by far is Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, called the Public Investment Fund, or PIF. PIF owns about 60% of Lucid, and it has very deep pockets -- but no investor, no matter how deep their pockets, will throw good money after bad indefinitely.

Is Lucid stock a buy now?

My theory is that PIF will ensure that Lucid is funded at least until production of the new midsize models has scaled up -- say, by the end of 2027. If that theory holds, then Lucid's stock might be a cautious buy at current levels.

If you buy now, the stock is essentially a bet that Lucid's new models will be competitive and that they'll sell well enough to get the company to breakeven. That isn't a terrible bet, but it's far from a sure thing. Scale your investment accordingly.

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Shares of electric-vehicle maker Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) have been up and down in 2025. That's a pattern that might make some investors cautious. But when we take a longer view, I think there's a terrific investing story here, even though recent sales trends haven't looked encouraging.

Rivian's growth hasn't stalled -- it's in a lull

A quick take on Rivian might be, "Eh, the company's sales seem stuck at around 50,000 a year, and that isn't enough to be profitable. In fact, its deliveries were actually down slightly in 2024 versus 2023. Without growth, this thing is doomed."

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That take would be missing something very important: Rivian's sales stand an excellent chance of growing dramatically soon, thanks to an important new model that's currently under development.

Rivian's upcoming R2 is a midsize electric SUV. It's expected to start around $45,000 when production begins in the first half of 2026. Image source: Rivian.

That's the R2, the long-awaited lower-cost Rivian. Expected to start around $45,000, Rivian's plan for the R2 is to bring its great range, thoughtful features, and off-road prowess to market in a slightly smaller package -- and, crucially, a package that's significantly less expensive to manufacture.

Rivian has been hard at work on the R2, of course. At the same time, while sales of its existing R1-series models and commercial vans haven't been growing much, Rivian has been very busy making them less expensive to produce while simultaneously making them better vehicles. Rivian said last month that its cost of goods sold per vehicle dropped by more than $22,600 in the first quarter from a year earlier, even as it rolled out new features.

Rivian also said last month that the R2's development is on schedule, by the way. That's a bigger deal than you might think. Developing a new vehicle and preparing to manufacture it at scale is a years-long, hugely expensive process. For a company like Rivian to be on track at this still-early stage of its existence is a testament to the adept leadership of CEO RJ Scaringe and his management team -- and that's always a bullish indicator.

Rivian's numbers: They're quite good in context

Rivian isn't profitable yet, but it wasn't expected to be profitable by now. It's still using cash -- $188 million in the first quarter, along with $338 million in capex -- but it has had positive gross profit for the last two quarters, thanks to those falling costs. Last month it confirmed it still expects to have a modest positive gross profit for the full year, despite the impacts of tariffs and policy changes.

Meanwhile, it has plenty of cash on hand, $7.2 billion as of the end of March, and more coming very soon. As part of the $5.8 billion joint-venture deal it signed with Volkswagen (OTC: VWAGY) last year, Rivian is expecting an incremental $1 billion investment by the end of June.

That should be more than enough, Rivian has said, to get R2 production up to speed and to launch an additional model line, the even-smaller R3 series, likely in early 2027. By then, the company should have meaningful positive free cash flow.

It's also worth noting that Rivian plans to sell the R2 in Europe, a big potential source of additional demand that should help insulate it from any EV policy changes that might be forthcoming in the United States.

The takeaway: If you want an EV stock, Rivian is a nice choice

I've always liked Rivian as a company, and at recent prices it's easy to recommend as an investment. Having spoken with Scaringe and other Rivian executives several times over the years, I feel that this is a confident, well-run company that walks its positive, environmentally responsible talk -- and it's on track to become nicely profitable within a few years.

Should you invest $1,000 in Rivian Automotive right now?

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John Rosevear has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Volkswagen Ag. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.