Luminar Increases Guidance; Accelerating Deals
New deals and increased volume lead to estimated $1.3B Order Book by year end, up from $1B target
LOS ANGELES: Gores Metropoulos, Inc., a special purpose acquisition company, announced today that Luminar Technologies, Inc., the global leader in automotive lidar and software technology powering the introduction of highway autonomy, with which Gores Metropoulos has signed a definitive Merger Agreement, has announced a number of major business updates and milestones.
Luminar OEM Programs Accelerating to Production
- Luminar’s partnership with the largest global truck OEM to pursue a common goal of bringing series produced, highly automated trucks (SAE L4) to roads globally accelerates Luminar’s leadership position in trucking autonomy; now partnered with nearly all major programs for long-haul highway automation
- Luminar is engaged with 50% more OEM programs for series production deals to be awarded over next 24 months (now 12, up from 8 in August; only 4 modeled in financial forecast)
Deliverables Met, Cost-Down Curve Ahead of Forecast
- Luminar executed exclusive supply agreements for all three of its key lidar components (receiver, ASIC, and laser), locking in an estimated sub $100 hardware cost in volume
- Luminar is concluding a Contract Manufacturer selection process for series production of Iris; lead partner and factory selected in Mexico
- Luminar is on-track for powering series production vehicles in 2022: delivered key milestone of Iris B-samples; shipped to its lead series production partner Volvo Cars and live on vehicles
Confirmed & Raised Financial Outlook
- Luminar is increasing its target 2020 Order Book from $1 billion to approximately $1.3 billion, due to new OEM deals and increased existing customer volume outlook provided
“Since announcing our deal with Gores Metropoulos just two and a half months ago, our full team has been intensely executing and substantially exceeding our projected annual milestones,” said Austin Russell, Founder and CEO of Luminar. “Our accelerating customer engagements and foray into owning the long-haul autonomous trucking market are paying off, reaffirming our unique ability to enable highway autonomy for both cars and trucks in series production. As we approach closing of our merger with major OEM deals in hand, we’ve now gained substantial long-term visibility as we continue our hyper-growth trajectory as a public company.”
Alec Gores, CEO of Gores Metropoulos, said, “Luminar has advanced leaps and bounds since announcing our pending merger in August. Luminar’s unparalleled technology and strong momentum is accelerating its command of the market for autonomous consumer vehicles and now autonomous trucks. We know this is only the beginning of even greater achievements to come.”
Luminar and Gores Metropoulos expect to close the proposed transaction in Q4 2020, as expected. Upon completion, Gores Metropoulos will change its name to Luminar Technologies, Inc. and will be listed on the Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol “LAZR”.
