Lucide Group (LCID -2.66%) is about to start taking orders for its second electric vehicle (EV) model and it may not be an exaggeration to say that the company’s entire future is at stake. Customer orders for The Lucid Gravity SUV will open next week, November 7.

After hearing what Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson just said in an interview with CNBC, investors might think the new electric vehicle won’t live up to expectations. That contributed to a nearly 5% drop in Lucid shares today. As of 2:35 p.m. ET, Lucid stock was still down 2.5%.

Another nearly $100,000 EV

So far, Lucid has only sold different versions of its Air luxury electric sedan. Volume has remained low as the price range starts at around $70,000 and goes up to $250,000. Lucid needs a substantial increase in sales volumes to have any chance of long-term success. Rawlinson told CNBC he was confident demand would increase significantly with the launch of Gravity. He said: “We think there’s about a 6 to 1 ratio… for SUV versus sedan (demand), and that’s going to put us in a very strong position.” »

Investors will only increase Lucid stock if he sees a dramatic increase in sales. Except the company announced that its first available Gravity model would be the Grand Touring version, with pricing starting at $94,900. It won’t be until the end of 2025 that Lucid will start offering a cheaper version starting at less than $80,000.

Expecting demand to be 6 times greater for its new SUV seems extremely optimistic. Even the follow-up model that begins production late next year may not be appealing to the mass market.

This might not pose such a big problem for investors if not for the current state of Lucid’s business. It only plans to produce about 9,000 vehicles this year, after delivering 7,142 through September. Investors likely won’t give the company credit for a big increase in volume until it sees real demand at those levels. Until then, the stock cannot rise.