The SEC Puts the Brakes on SPAC-Mania Among EV Makers
Young electric car companies have drawn huge valuations from investors. Now they’re drawing regulatory scrutiny, too.
Lucid’s parent company went public via a SPAC deal in July.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Here’s a sure sign that a SPAC-lash is afoot. Electric vehicle startup Lucid Group Inc., whose market value once soared past that of General Motors Co. this year, said on Dec. 6 that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was probing its barely five-month-old blank-check merger and business projections given to investors. The admission sent the stock reeling.
It was a surprise disclosure from a company that’s seen as having real potential in the electric vehicle race. Lucid Chief Executive Officer Peter Rawlinson came from Tesla Inc., and in September the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certified that the company’s Air sedan can travel a world-best 520 miles on a single charge. And Lucid had gone public with far more credibility than fellow SPAC newbies Nikola Corp. and Lordstown Motors Corp., both of which ousted their CEOs in the past two years after SEC investigations.