The Saudi backed company all set to take on Tesla with its all new Lucid Air.
Lucid Motors unveiled its first vehicle, the Lucid Air electric sedan, at a virtual event from the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters. The sedan will offer up to 900 Km of range, packs over 1,000 horsepower, and will have a base price of “under $80,000”.
About Lucid
The Lucid Air is over a decade in the making. Founded as Atieva in 2007, the company got its start making high performance batteries for all the Formula E racing.
It changed its name to Lucid Motors in 2016 with the promise to make a midsized sedan that feels like a massive, roomy flagship vehicle. The vehicle was supposed to be unveiled at the New York Auto Show earlier this year, but got delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Under direction of the former Tesla Model S lead engineer Peter Rawlinson — then Lucid Motors’ CTO, now its CEO — there is a sense in the automotive world that Lucid has the internal knowledge and technical chops to tease Tesla’s grip as maker of the ultimate electric luxury sedan.
The Air will offer dual electric motors that provide all-wheel drive and a set of different horsepower ratings. The Touring model generates 650 horses, the Grand Touring makes 800, and the top-of-the-line Dream Edition develops an enormous 1080 ponies.
Also expect a single-motor, rear-drive version to eventually join the lineup. Until then, Lucid claims the quickest Air can complete the quarter-mile in 9.9 seconds at 231 kph, which is insanely quick even for high-performance cars.
The fastest version of the electrified sedan will also have a top speed of 270 kph. The Air will be supported by an air suspension, too, which the company says helps provide a smooth ride. Its low center of gravity is also expected to help its handling characteristics.
Specs
Most of the Lucid Air’s specs have been announced. The company’s media strategy has been to release a new tidbit every week for the past month leading up to the actual unveiling.
Below are the specs
- 113 kWh battery pack
- 900 km of range under perfect conditions
- 32 km of range per minute of charging (DC fast charger)
- nearly 60 percent of range in 20 minutes of charging
- 1,080 horsepower
- 0-100 kph in 2.5 seconds
- a quarter-mile in 9.9 seconds
- price range of $80,000-$169,000 before incentives, depending on the configuration
- 280-liter frunk (front trunk)
- 32-sensor advanced driving assistance system, including cameras, radar, ultrasonic, and LIDAR
Pricing
There will be four versions of the Lucid Air: the base Air for $80,000 (minus tax credits); Air Touring for $95,000; Air Grand Touring at $139,000; and Air Dream Edition at a whopping $169,000 — each with its own range, performance specs, and charging estimates.
Another new feature is Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant will be natively integrated into the Air. That means drivers will be able to use Alexa to control the vehicle’s navigation, answer calls, change radio stations, and even link up with their Echo device at home.
There is no announcement as to when the Lucid Air will make its UAE debut, but watch this space for updates.
