Lucid Group, Inc. announced that it reached an agreement to acquire select facilities and assets in Arizona previously owned by heavy-duty commercial electric vehicle maker Nikola Corporation. Lucid also plans to offer employment to more than 300 former Nikola employees in roles across Lucid’s Arizona sites.
The transaction does not include the acquisition of Nikola’s business, customer base or technology related to its hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks. The deal is subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Most Read on Manufacturing.net:
The job offers cover various technical salaried and hourly positions, including manufacturing engineering, software, assembly, vehicle testing and warehouse support.
Per the agreement, Lucid will take over Nikola’s former Coolidge manufacturing facility and the Phoenix facility previously used as Nikola’s headquarters and product development center. These buildings collectively add more than 884,000 square feet to Lucid’s Arizona footprint.
The majority of the space features manufacturing and warehousing buildings and includes development equipment with extensive battery and environmental testing chambers, a full-size chassis dynamometer and machining equipment.
“As we continue our production ramp of Lucid Gravity and prepare for our upcoming mid-size platform vehicles, acquiring these assets is an opportunity to strategically expand our manufacturing, warehousing, testing and development facilities while supporting our local Arizona community,” Lucid Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said.
The agreement follows Nikola’s bankruptcy auction, which concluded on April 10. The company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after predicting it would run out of money this year.
The bankruptcy filing followed controversy surrounding Nikola founder Trevor Milton. In 2022, a jury convicted Milton of fraud for deceiving investors about the company’s zero-emission 18-wheel truck technology. A judge sentenced Milton to four years in prison in 2023.
Last month, Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky requested that a court order Milton to pay approximately $676 million in restitution to his defrauded victims. However, Milton received a pardon from President Donald Trump two weeks later.
The pardon drew attention to Milton’s financial connections to Trump, which included a donation of $920,000 to the president’s fundraising committee, according to the Federal Election Commission website.
Click here to subscribe to our daily newsletter featuring breaking manufacturing industry news.