Tina Bellon

AUSTIN Texas (Reuters). Electric carmaker Lucid has announced that it will raise the prices of future models to meet “huge inflationary pressures” but remains committed to paying existing reservations holders.

In an interview with Reuters, CEO Peter Rawlinson stated that “it’s an inevitable that we will need to look at how much models are going out in the future,” during the South by Southwest music technology and film festival (SXSW).

Rawlinson said, “I think that it would be absolutely foolish for me to say we never will raise our prices,” citing high nickel prices.

These comments were made at a time when many electric vehicle manufacturers, such as Tesla (NASDAQ) Inc, Rivian, BYD and Rivian have raised their prices because of higher raw materials costs.

Lucid cut its production projections for 2012 to 12,000-14,000 in February. This was down from the original goal of 20,000 vehicles. Lucid also cited “extraordinary logistics and supply chain problems”. After the announcement, its shares plunged.

Rawlinson stated Thursday that the bottlenecks resulted from suppliers of windshield glass, carpeting, and other exterior trim pieces.

Rawlinson explained that it’s only about a handful of suppliers who are restricting our volume. Rawlinson said, “I am super frustrated that we are not gated with silicon chips and we’re also not gated through our ability to produce electric motors.”

Rawlinson stated that switching to other suppliers would result in a compromise on quality.

Rawlinson previously served as vice president of Tesla’s vehicle engineering. He stated that he didn’t worry about market reaction to Lucid production cuts.

Rawlinson explained that customers’ satisfaction is more important than short-term attention to the number of cars delivered per quarter. Rawlinson also stated that he had a 10-year plan.