Lucid, the electric vehicle manufacturer, has unveiled a new version of its popular and powerful Air luxury sedan. The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance, which was introduced yesterday, would have 1,050 horsepower and a starting price of $179,000, according to the company. Since its premiere last fall, the company's Air sedan has wowed critics in a variety of ways, including the 1,111-horsepower Dream Edition's incredible performance.
That model, however, was not easy to come by. Lucid limited manufacture of the Dream Edition to just 520 units, which were all sold out months before the first Airs were shipped from its Arizona plant last year October. The Grand Touring Performance, which has characteristics that are virtually identical to the Dream Edition and a starting price that is only $10,000 higher, will not be as limited in manufacturing, according to Lucid.
While the Air has made a major splash in the luxury EV market, Lucid is still in the early stages of development. Since starting production in September 2021, the business has constructed around 400 vehicles and has roughly 25,000 reservations for the Air, according to a statement released in late February.
Because global supply-chain issues have hindered the ramp-up of Air production, it now aims to deliver between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles in 2022, down from a previous target of 20,000. According to Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson, the business decided to produce the higher-performance model after realizing that a range-topping Air with a four-figure horsepower rating was still in strong demand.
Lucid Grand Touring Performance Model
Lucid develops and manufactures its own electric motors and battery packs rather than relying on third-party suppliers, like most large manufacturers do. The Grand Touring Performance has been tweaked as a result of supply-chain issues that have afflicted practically every automaker in the world. The new Air's specifications, though, are still impressive:
It has an acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in under 2.6 seconds, compared to 2.5 seconds for the Dream Edition's high-performance version. A range of 446 miles according to the EPA, against 471 miles for the high-performance Dream Edition.
Driveline advancements in the cooling and winding design of the stator, the amount and location of permanent magnets in the rotor, and a comprehensive reworking of the final drive are enabling this quantum efficiency increase, resulting in power density roughly treble that of Teslas. Using Formula 1 aerodynamics expertise, a reported drag coefficient of 0.200 is achieved, earning high marks for engineering brilliance and efficiency.
Additionally, the DreamDrive Pro, Lucid's advanced driver-assist system, comes equipped with much of the gear required for completely autonomous driving, including a lidar sensor. The Lucid's super-fast 900-volt charging system allows users to add up to 300 miles of range in just 21 minutes using a 350-kilowatt DC Fast charger, which is included as standard.
In most aspects, the new Air outperforms the most powerful Tesla, but not in acceleration. Last year, Tesla's Model S Plaid debuted with 1,020-horsepower, a 396-mile EPA-estimated range, a starting price of just over $130,000, and a claimed zero to 60 time of 1.99 seconds.
The Grand Touring Performance is a powerful version of the Lucid Air and deliveries are expected to start in June.
Roadster Reservations
Coincidentally, Tesla has modified its Roadster reservations page adding the deposit of $50,000. You can pay $5,000 via credit card (with the remaining $45,000 due via wire transfer within 10 days) to get a spot on the Roadster waiting list. Tesla claims that the deposit is completely refundable. But it's not clear if that is just the $5,000 or the full amount, which makes it "final."
This is exciting news, which could mean the Roadster could be getting ready for production. That is… if you are willing to let Tesla keep $50,000 of your money, interest-free, for an unspecified period of time, especially given the number of delays. But we are still optimistic that this is a positive sign that we should expect to see the Roadster hitting the assembly line sooner rather than later.
