Top Lucid Motors Executive Emad Dlala Departs Amid CEO's Leadership Shakeup

Emad Dlala, a top executive at EV-maker Lucid Motors, has left the company just months after being promoted to a leading role, TechCrunch has learned. Dlala's exit is the first major executive departure since Lucid Motors selected Silvio Napoli as its new CEO in April. Napoli joined Lucid after spending a career in various leadership positions at escalator and elevator company Schindler Group.

He formally started in the CEO role just last week. Lucid Motors confirmed Dlala's departure and said the company is "transforming its organization to accelerate innovation and strengthen execution under CEO Silvio Napoli." As part of that transformation, Lucid Motors said that Vivek Attaluri, the company's vice president of vehicle engineering, and Marc Solsona Palomar, its vice president of software, will now report directly to Napoli. "Emad Dlala has elected to leave the company to pursue other opportunities.

We thank Emad for his many contributions over the years and wish him continued success in his future endeavors. Lucid remains focused on streamlining our organization and processes to fully leverage the strength of our team and will communicate further actions soon," the company said in a statement. Dlala had been with Lucid Motors for more than a decade, making him one of the company's longest-serving employees and executives.

Over the last five years, he was both Lucid Motors' vice president and senior vice president of the company's powertrain team. In November, he was elevated to a role overseeing all of "Engineering and Digital" at the same time that Lucid Motors parted ways with its long-time chief engineer Eric Bach. Bach has since sued Lucid Motors for wrongful termination — though that lawsuit was recently stayed pending arbitration, according to federal court records.

The company has been in flux in the months since. Lucid Motors laid off 12% of its workforce in February, as TechCrunch first reported. It then completed its search for a new CEO after spending a year trying to replace Peter Rawlinson, who suddenly departed in early 2025.

The departure of Dlala comes just a few months ahead of the launch of Lucid Motors' first mass-market vehicle built on its mid-sized platform, called Cosmos. This EV is supposed to start below $50,000 and finally give the Saudi-owned company a chance at delivering a more affordable, widely-adopted car. This next-generation EV is also now a cornerstone of Lucid's deal to provide robotaxis to Uber.

Lucid Motors has agreed to develop robotaxis with autonomous vehicle company Nuro, starting with its Gravity SUV. The self-driving Gravity is supposed to hit the road in San Francisco by the end of this year. Why this matters: The departure of Emad Dlala, a long-serving executive at Lucid Motors, raises questions about the company's stability and ability to execute on its ambitious plans.