What happened
Shares of EV maker Lucid Group (LCID -3.92%) looked strong Wednesday, trading up by more than 6% at their peak, even as technology stocks broadly were dropping. At the close, Lucid stock was still up by 3.3%.
So what
The move continued the rebound Lucid shares have been experiencing over the past several weeks. The stock is up by more than 40% just since May 11. But even with that recovery, it's still down by nearly half since the start of 2022.
Though many names in the EV sector made positive moves Wednesday, there also was some company-specific news coming from Lucid. On Tuesday, it announced a new arrangement with Bank of America to offer Lucid customers lease or loan purchase options for its luxury electric sedans.
Now what
The all-digital Lucid Financial Services platform will make it easier for customers to bring home the company's electric cars. That could be helpful, considering that they now range in price from $87,400 for the basic Lucid Air to $169,000 for the Lucid Air Dream Edition.
Lucid Financial Services will initially be available for U.S. buyers who choose one of the high-end Air Grand Touring options, which begin at $154,000. Lucid says it will be open to buyers of its other models before the end of this year. It intends to offer a seamless, digital purchasing process, where customers can apply for 24-, 36-, or 48-month leases, as well as loans of various lengths. Approvals will be based on individual circumstances.
Investors should see the news as a positive development for Lucid. The data it presented shows that Bank of America has seen a steady increase in customer applications through its digital auto-purchasing processes. Lucid hopes this will help to build on the backlog of over 30,000 reservations that it reported as of May 5.
