Lucid Motors is a luxury electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer that doesn”™t see Tesla as its competition. Rather the creator of the Lucid Air sedan ”” MotorTrend”™s Car of the Year ”” looks to classic luxe car brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz, said Ryan Baxter, manager of the Lucid studio (showroom) in The Westchester in White Plains, which opened Dec. 17.
And it is precisely because it is both a luxury brand and a sustainable vehicle that Baxter said The Westchester is the perfect place for its first studio in the Westchester-Fairfield area. (There are 31 studios in the United States, including three in the tristate area ”” in Manhattan; Manhasset, Long Island; and Short Hills, New Jersey ”” as well as four international locations in Geneva; Hilversum, the Netherlands; Munich; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.)
“We think our base of customers is similar to those who live in (this) area,” Baxter added during a Westfair visit to the studio prior to its official opening.
Those customers can be expected to pony up some big bucks for sleek, all-wheel steeds that combine hefty horsepower and long range per electric charge. The Lucid Air Pure, which begins at $87,400, has a projected 410-mile range per charge and up to 480 horsepower and can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour (MPH) in 3.8 seconds. The Lucid Air Touring, from $107,400, has a projected 425-mile range per charge and 620 horsepower and can go from 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds. The Lucid Air Grand Touring, from $138,000, has up to 516 miles of range and up to 1,050 horsepower and can go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds. It takes 12 minutes to charge 200 miles on the Grand Touring; 15 minutes on the Pure and Touring. (The limited-edition Lucid Air Dream, from $169,000 with up to 520 miles of range per charge and up to 1,111 horsepower, began delivery to its 520 customers in October of last year.)
It was the first car produced by the publicly traded company, headquartered in the Silicon Valley city of Newark, California, which began life in 2007 as Atieva, building electric-car batteries and powertrains for other car manufacturers. In 2016 it rebranded as Lucid Motors, a name, Baxter said, that was more fitting for its intent to create the best luxury electric car around in its Casa Grande, Arizona, plant. Behind the wheel is Peter Rawlinson, doing double duty as CEO and CTO (chief technology officer). The former vice president of vehicle engineering at Tesla and chief engineer of its Model S, Rawlinson also served as head of vehicle engineering at Corus Automotive, chief engineer at Lotus Cars and principal engineer at Jaguar Cars after graduating from Imperial College, University of London.
But even with someone as steeped in automotive engineering as Rawlinson at the helm, the path to creating and especially marketing a sustainable, high-performance vehicle ”” once thought to be a contradiction in terms ”” is not without its challenges in a volatile economy dogged by Covid, supply-chain issues, inflation and a cooling EV market. The Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ: LCID) reported third quarter earnings of $195.5 million, which missed analysts”™estimates, resulting in a quarterly net loss of 40 cents per share.
Despite this and a downward revision in its proposed production guidance, the company reported that it was still on track to make between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles in fiscal 2022 ”” producing 2,282 vehicles during the third quarter alone, more than tripling the number produced in the second quarter, and delivering 1,398 vehicles, more than doubling the number delivered in Q2.
This, Rawlinson said in a statement, proves “our ability to produce 300 cars a week, with a visible pathway to our next incremental ramp-up.” (No doubt helping that ramp-up is a multiyear partnership that would see Panasonic supply lithium-ion batteries to the EV manufacturer.)
There”™s also strong demand for the Lucid Air, with more than 34,000 reservations as of Nov. 7, representing potential sales of more than $3.2 billion, not including up to 100,000 vehicles for the now sustainably-minded Saudi Arabian government under a 10-year agreement. (The kingdom”™s Public Investment Fund has put more than $1 billion into Lucid Motors, which is setting up its first international production company there.)
Clearly the international market is important to Lucid ”” which received the highest rating, five stars, in the Euro NCAP Safety Assessment in the run-up to the Hilversum studio”™s Dec. 16 opening and has made overtures to China, the world”™s largest EV consumer.
Back at The Westchester, it”™s hard not to be beguiled by Lucid Air”™s space-age design, with its glass canopy (standard on the Air Grand Touring and optional for the Air Touring), leather interiors, wood trims, Aero wheels and chassis in five shimmering, saturated colors ”” Infinite Black, Quantum Gray, Zenith Red, Cosmos Silver and Stellar White.
The 34-inch cockpit-style dashboard and dropdown screen contain side and all-around cameras as well as a rearview camera and let you do virtually anything, including receive a front-seat massage. The sightlines are superb and whether you sit in the front or the back, you have plenty of room and storage space, including a self-locking glove compartment, so that you feel comfortable and secure. As you exit the vehicle, it closes and locks itself ”” gently. Driving around White Plains quietly with Baxter at the wheel, you can”™t help but feel as if you”™re riding in KITT ”” the artificially intelligent car in the 1980s crime series “Knight Rider” ”” if KITT were a billionaire, that is.
At The Westchester locale, you can take a personalized virtual test drive or an actual one. What you cannot do is buy a car directly from a Lucid studio as it is not a dealership ”” a situation that may change nationwide if Lucid is successful in the lawsuit it has filed in Texas. For now, you would go online to “design” and order your car. The California office offers phone support with this, Baxter said. Should your car require repair, he added, a technician in a van pulls up to your home or office.
The Lucid Air, to be followed by the Lucid Gravity SUV in early 2024 with reservations opening next year, uses a combined charging system accessible to every charging system, Baxter said ”” except Tesla”™s.
As for Tesla, CEO Elon Musk has predicted the rival Lucid is “not long for this world.”
But judging from our test drive, and the company stating that its $3.85 billion in cash, cash alternatives and investments is enough to fund it through next year, it appears that Lucid is here to stay.
For more, visit lucidmotors.com.
