Lucid Motors awarded $6 million grant for Southfield engineering and research center

The Michigan Strategic Fund board on Tuesday approved a $6 million grant to support California-based electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors in establishing a $10 million engineering and research center in Southfield.

The project, supported by the governing board of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., is expected to create up to 262 jobs paying an average wage of $2,048 per week plus benefits, according to an MEDC memo, which also noted the company considered Ohio and Texas for the investment. Lucid picked Michigan "because of the state’s workforce expertise and the number of suppliers in the region," the memo said.

Lucid is expected in April to open a space in Travelers Towers on Evergreen Road, The Detroit News reported last week.

Lucid, a luxury EV maker that makes the Air sedan and plans to launch the Gravity SUV later this year, already has more than 25 remote employees based in Michigan.

The company is based in Newark, California, and has a production facility in Arizona. The Michigan engineering center will be the company's third employment hub.

Lucid's Michigan expansion comes as the EV sales pace is slowing, causing concerns for startup companies and legacy automakers spending billions on the transition from gas to electric.

Lucid's stock dropped 17% last Thursday after it reported a fourth-quarter loss of $653.8 million and a full-year loss of $2.83 billion.

khall@detroitnews.com

@bykaleahall