Lucid's website has opened up 14 jobs in China, all of them based in Shanghai, in areas including hardware engineering, supply chain and retail.

(Image credit: Lucid)

US electric vehicle (EV) startup Lucid Motors (NASDAQ: LCID) has begun hiring in China, potentially preparing to join its local counterpart Tesla in expanding into the world's most dynamic EV market.

Lucid's website opens up 14 jobs in China, all of them based in Shanghai, in areas including hardware engineering, supply chain, retail, logistics, digital, and legal.

The job descriptions don't mention the exact number of people it plan to hire, but most of the positions require bilingualism and two or more years of experience working for Chinese companies.

Lucid is hiring for three hardware engineering-related positions in China -- Sr. Product Manager, China Introduction, Product Manager, Public Charging - China, and Product Manager, Residential Charging - China.

For the Sr. Product Manager, China Introduction position, Lucid requires candidates with 7+ years of product management experience, leading the entire product development cycle from concept to launch.

Three of the 14 positions are related to localization, suggesting that Lucid is initiating preparations to enter China.

Lucid was co-founded in 2007 by Bernard Tse, a former vice president and director of Tesla, and Sam Weng, a former Oracle executive, to focus on the development of systems, including motors, to serve automotive companies.

Lucid closed its Series A funding round in 2009 with investors including China's Tsing Capital.

When Lucid's first production vehicle, the Lucid Air, was launched in December 2016, Tsing Capital announced the progress on its website.

Lucid is targeting high-end luxury electric vehicles, with the Lucid Air starting at a current price of $87,400.

Lucid was once called the Tesla killer due to the background of most of its executives at Tesla and the similar development path of the two companies.

In July 2021, Lucid went public on the NASDAQ through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and now has a market capitalization of $13.4 billion.

In November 2021, Lucid said in its first post-IPO earnings report that it planned to enter the Chinese market in 2023.

The company's CEO Peter Rawlinson said in a CNBC interview at the time that Lucid will build a factory in China in "mid-decade".

Like many startups, capacity is a major constraint on Lucid's growth.

Lucid produced 2,282 units in the third quarter and is still behind on deliveries of nearly 1,000 new vehicles.

The company has lowered its production forecast for the year from 12,000 to 13,000 units to 6,000 to 7,000 units.

To stop consumers from canceling orders as much as possible, Lucid will use aggressive tactics, such as calling customers up to 14 times to request that orders be maintained, a recent Business Insider report said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk later tweeted that they are not long for this world.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022