Peter Rawlinson is a British businessman and engineer based in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He was the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, chief technology officer, and former board member of

Lucid Motors Lucid Group, Inc., is an American automotive and technology company that manufactures electric vehicles and supplies advanced electric vehicle powertrain systems. The company is headquartered in Newark, California. In September 2021, the compa ...

and is known for his work as Chief Vehicle Engineer of the

Tesla Model S The Tesla Model S is a battery-electric, four-door full-size car produced by the American automaker Tesla since 2012. The automaker's second vehicle and longest-produced model, the Model S has both received mixed reviews from critics and a ...

and the

Lucid Air The Lucid Air is a Battery electric vehicle, battery electric four-door luxury Sedan (automobile), sedan made by Lucid Motors. The car was announced in December 2016 and sold starting in 2021. The Dream Edition's United States Department of En ...

Early life and education

Rawlinson was born in 1957 and grew up in

Bonvilston Bonvilston () is a village in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The village is situated on the A48 road, A48 about four miles east of Cowbridge and near the Welsh capital city of Cardiff. The population in 2011 was 392. History It is named after ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

and attended

Cowbridge Grammar School Cowbridge Grammar School was one of the best-known schools in Wales until its closure in 1974. It was replaced by Cowbridge Comprehensive School. Founded in the 17th century by Sir John Stradling, 1st Baronet, Sir John Stradling and refounde ...

in the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...

. He considered going to

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

before deciding to become an engineer. Rawlinson attended

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

, graduating from the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1979.

Career

Rawlinson has held several positions in the UK automotive industry, including Principal Engineer at

Jaguar Cars Jaguar (, ) is the sports car and luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational corporation, multinational automaker, car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that ...

, Chief Engineer at

Lotus Cars Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars) is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles. Lotus Group is composed of three primary entities. Lotus Cars, a high-performance sports car company, is ba ...

and Head of Vehicle Engineering at Corus Automotive. Rawlinson was one of the first people in the UK to use

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

(CAD) and

computer-aided engineering Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the general usage of technology to aid in tasks related to engineering analysis. Any use of technology to solve or assist engineering issues falls under this umbrella. Overview Following alongside the con ...

(CAE); in the 1980s, his team created Jaguar's first intranet to transfer engineering files from computer to computer. Rawlinson joined Tesla in February 2009 as Vice President and Chief Vehicle Engineering of

. One week after joining, he told his boss,

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

, that the early Model S prototype was a "false dawn" and that Rawlinson's 6-person team would have to restart the engineering work on Tesla's flagship vehicle from a "clean sheet." Rawlinson was responsible for the technical execution and delivery of the Model S, improving structure and production by taking advantage of the fewer restrictions facilitated by electric vehicle

drivetrain A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) or transmission system, is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the driv ...

. At Tesla, Rawlinson built a team of 150 engineers and drew upon his knowledge of computational prototyping, digital wind tunnels and other CAD and CAE work from his advanced engineering work in the UK. Rawlinson said that, from 2009 to 2012, "Tesla was truly at the cutting edge, developing the most advanced technology with clarity, a vision and purpose, and an absolute singularity of mindset.” He resigned his position at Tesla in January 2012 to move back home to the UK and care for his aging mother. Rawlinson helped launch

in 2016 as the Chief Technology Officer and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2019. He oversees the development of the

and Lucid Gravity. His goal is to make Lucid a "major volume player," including the planned late 2024 launch of an electric SUV and a planned 2026 launch of a mid-sized sedan. His name is on dozens of patents for battery technology or other innovations, and Rawlinson oversaw Lucid’s development of the battery used by all the teams in the Formula E electric-vehicle racing circuit. It was announced on 25 February 2025 that Rawlinson would step down as the CEO of Lucid, to be replaced by Marc Winterhoff as the interim CEO for Lucid Motors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlinson, Peter 1957 births Living people People educated at Cowbridge Grammar School Alumni of Imperial College London British automotive engineers People from Cowbridge Lucid Motors 20th-century Welsh engineers 21st-century Welsh engineers