June 26 Reuters British luxury carmaker Aston Martin has reached a deal that will give U.S. electric vehicle EV maker Lucid Group a 3.7 stake in the company in return for access to its high performance technology, Aston Martin said on Monday.

Subject to shareholder approval, Aston Martin will issue about 28.4 million new ordinary shares to Lucid Group. It will also make phased cash payments to Lucid totalling about 232 million.

The shift to electric is phenomenally costly, with carmakers globally committing around 1.2 trillion to the lowemission technology. Smaller carmakers such as Aston Martin are more reliant on partnerships to make the transition.

Aston Martin plans its first EV in 2025 and until now had leant on Mercedes as its big brother to provide the technology it needs.

In a separate announcement on Monday, Aston Martin said it had amended an agreement with MercedesBenz meaning the German carmaker would not increase its stake as planned, but will maintain around 9 in Aston Martin and continue to provide it with access to engine and EV technology.

The agreement with Lucid meanwhile will give access to Lucid39;s industryleading technology for its battery electric vehicles BEVs, including electric powertrains and battery systems.

Lucid and Aston Martin have a common shareholder in Saudi Arabia39;s Public Investment Fund PIF. The Saudi wealth fund became Aston Martin39;s secondlargest shareholder last year.

PIF is also Lucid39;s main shareholder and last…