SAN FRANCISCO (REUTERS) - Lucid Motors chief executive officer Peter Rawlinson told Reuters on Tuesday (Feb 24) that the luxury electric car maker plans to launch a rival to Tesla's Model 3 in 2024 or 2025. The company led by the former Tesla engineer is following the same strategy as Tesla, starting with a luxury car to create a halo around the brand and then expand into the mass market. This week it announced plans to go public by merging with a blank check company, a move that indicated a market capitalization of $56 billion - before regular production of Lucid Motors' first model has begun. Scaling up production of a mass automobile is a major financial challenge, Mr Rawlinson said. "I can't wait to do that," he told Reuters, referring to the rival to Tesla's Model 3, it's least expensive sedan. But first Mr Rawlinson said he would for now focus on the luxury, bigger car, which paradoxically takes fewer resources. "To make a smaller car requires more capital, because you need a bigger factory and more automation," he said. Lucid Motors' first electric car, the luxury Air, won't go in production now until late 2021, later than the spring 2021 launch initially planned. Mr Rawlins...