Among the stock market's many downers on Tuesday was luxury electric vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Group (LCID 0.41%). The company's shares closed the day 0.8% lower, representing a slightly steeper fall than the S&P 500 index's 0.6% drop. Investors found some top-down news affecting the EV industry to be rather discouraging.
A potential softening of emissions rules by the EPA
Over the weekend, a clutch of media reports stated that the Biden administration intends to loosen the strict vehicle emissions rules its Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed in 2023. These were aimed at speeding up the adoption of EVs in an attempt at cutting emissions harmful to the environment.
The EPA aimed to have at least 60% of the U.S. auto industry's new vehicle production be composed of EVs by 2030. That percentage would rise to 67% by 2032.
According to two unnamed sources in one of those stories, published by Reuters on Sunday, the EPA will reduce those percentages in a revised proposal. This could be released for public consumption as early as next month, the sources told the news agency.
These reports come on the heels of several setbacks for the once-accelerating EV segment. Sales growth of such models has slowed lately, while the most recent financial results of certain high-profile EV companies such as Tesla haven't been impressive.
Fourth-quarter results on tap
Speaking of financials, Lucid is slated to publish its fourth-quarter earnings after market close on Wednesday. These might not be encouraging; collectively, analysts are forecasting a more than 30% year-over-year decline in sales and a net loss on the bottom line (although narrower than the year-ago result).
