Lucid's entry-level sedan hopes to attract a much wider range of customers for the luxury electric carmaker.
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Lucid Motors closed out 2022 on a high note, with the first deliveries of the most affordable Lucid Air variant taking place for customers in Torrance and Millbrae, California. The deliveries come as a ray of sunlight in the EV maker's troubled skies and should help hold off Lucid's bankruptcy as predicted by Elon Musk.
Lucid Air Pure: The Volume Seller
Starting at $87,400 the Lucid Air Pure isn't exactly cheap, but who pays full price instead of leasing anymore anyway? Buyers who do decide to take the plunge will receive a vehicle with 410 miles of EPA-rated range with 480 horsepower and the ability to sprint to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. The Lucid Air Pure comes with "PureTex" synthetic leather inside and a slightly smaller battery than its pricier siblings. The Pure also ditches the heavier glass roof in favour of a lightweight aluminum one. All of Lucid's buyers are treated to the vehicle's much-lauded handling, which reportedly has the ability to make the car feel smaller and lighter than it is, even drawing comparisons to the likes of the Porsche 911 GT3.
Stormy Seas Ahead?
As a relatively young company Lucid is fighting hard to keep on an even course, weathering staff departures, a global pandemic and the looming threat of recession thanks to cash injections from stock sales and Saudi PIF investment deals. Perhaps Mr. Musk forgets when his company faced early-days turmoil, or perhaps his previous comments were an attempt to thin the competition by one promising contender. The Mercedes-es and VWs of the world are too big to fail at this point, but Lucid presents Tesla with a rival that can match it for headline-grabbing horsepower and performance. Whatever the truth, Lucid says that it has enough cash on hand to continue producing cars through to the end of 2024.
Further bolstering Lucid's future position is the fact that the first European deliveries of the Air Dream Edition are currently underway. The Dream Edition was Lucid's exclusive launch edition, with 520 cars available only to the company's earliest backers. Well, not any more because these Dreams are in addition to that first production run. Like the US versions buyers can choose from Range or Performance variants with the same 933 or 1111 horsepower respectively, a 900V+ architecture and the ability to add about 400 km of range in 15 minutes. The first deliveries of the longest range EV on sale in Europe have taken place in Germany and the Netherlands, where Lucid's European HQ is located.
We've also seen reports of a delivery taking place in Saudi Arabia, but whether this is the start of Lucid's deliveries to the Middle East or just a one-off remains unconfirmed.
Saudi Arabia and its Public Investment Fund has been crucial in getting Lucid off the ground. This rendering shows AMP-2, the company's second factory which will be located in the Kingdom.
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Lucid's future, and present for that matter with its stock price hovering around all-time low territory, may give investors cause for worry but the message coming from Newark has consistently been one of having enough in the bank to keep producing and keep moving forward. Lucid Air Pure deliveries should aid the company by getting its groundbreaking product into more hands and driveways, securing its future as one of the few EV startups to be built on great ideas and actually succeed.
Images by Lucid Motors licensed by CC BY 4.0.
James Walker is an Automotive Journalist at Torque News focusing on Lucid Motors. If it's got wheels he's interested, and he's looking forward to seeing what kind of cars the EV revolution brings us. Whether it's fast, slow, new, or old, James wants to have a look around it and share it in print and on video, ideally with some twisty roads involved. You can connect with James on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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