Lucid Group has strengthened its executive team as it launches in major US cities and prepares to expand in Europe and the Middle East. The California-based EV startup has added two industry veterans to its ranks to lead its process transformation and global logistics teams.
Former Tesla vice president Evelyn Chiang has been named Lucid Group's vice president of process transformation, while Walter Ludwig, previously head of logistics at Mercedes-Benz Argentina, has been appointed vice president of global logistics.
"I'm delighted to have Evelyn and Walter join the Lucid leadership team. Together, they bring decades of global expertise and operational excellence to the company."
Peter Rawlinson, Lucid's CEO and CTO
The new executives report directly to Rawlinson. According to their LinkedIn profiles, Chiang started at Lucid in June and Ludwig in May. In her new role at the EV startup, Evelyn Chiang "will lead enterprise initiatives aligned to Lucid's strategic objectives leveraging techniques and methodologies to analyze, harmonize, and improve business processes across the organization."
She has over 30 years of experience in a variety of industries transforming businesses, managing mass-scale programs, developing global supply chains, and deploying enterprise-wide automation solutions. Before joining Lucid, she has held executive leadership roles at SAP, Tesla and other global tech companies; most recently, she was COO at Siteimprove.
As Lucid's VP of global logistics, Walter Ludwig is tasked with developing and implementing best practices in automotive logistics and parts management. He will focus on "supplier capacity management, inbound and outbound logistics, launch and change management, material planning, material handling engineering and data management."
Ludwig has over 28 years of automotive experience from Mercedes-Benz AG, where he held various roles, including Head of Operations, Head of Quality and, most recently, Head of Central Logistics where he focused on manufacturing, engineering, supplier management, and logistics. For the last 20 years, he focused on ramping up and stabilizing manufacturing plants in Germany, China, Russia, Argentina, and the United States.
Lucid Group is now expanding globally after opening 28 retail and service locations in North America since its factory launch last year.
In May, the company opened its first European location in Germany, with new stores planned in the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland this year. Lucid also plans to break ground in H2 2022 on a vehicle assembly plant in Saudi Arabia, which owns a majority of Lucid shares through its sovereign wealth fund.
The Saudi government has signed an agreement with Lucid to purchase up to 100,000 EVs over the next decade, the first of which will be delivered in 2023.
