Lucid parked a test drive car next to a Supercharger station in California and the Tesla faithful are none too pleased about it.
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It's no secret that Lucid has a demand problem with production currently outstripping deliveries by a significant margin. The Californian EV manufacturer's marketing department is in overdrive mode and one of their latest tactics has a number of Tesla fan(atic)s up in arms.
Tesla Console founder Ryan Zohoury shared this tweet of a Cosmos Silver Lucid Air with "Test Drive Car" written down the side parked across from an eight-stall Tesla Supercharger in West Hollywood recently, declaring that none of the Tesla drivers were interested in the luxury EV while they waited for their cars to charge.
Certain outlets reported on the Lucid taking up two parking spaces (gasp!) and said that not only did none of the Tesla drivers take Lucid up on a test drive, but not one single person so much as walked over to have a look. This seems odd. Maybe they're just weren't car people or maybe everyone out that day was die-hard #TeamElon and wouldn't give those underhanded Lucid reps the satisfaction of knowing they'd piqued some interest.
Others chimed in to call the exercise "desperate" and likened it to chasing an ambulance.
This isn't the first time such a tactic has been employed, as Cadillac reps were spotted at a Supercharger station in Shanghai with the upcoming Lyriq to get eyes on their new EV.
All's Fair In EV War
Despite drawing the ire of Tesla Twitter there are no rules that say a competing EV firm can't park up near a Supercharger station, public as they are. For its part, Tesla has been using its much wider profit margin muscle to initiate what's been referred to as an "EV price war," dropping the cost of its vehicles to bolster demand, though prices have since increased as the brand's yoyo model is wont to do. Lucid responded with price cuts of its own at a time when it really can't afford to be doing so.
Lucid produced 2315 Airs in the first quarter of 2023 and delivered 1406 while around 170,000 Teslas were sold in the US during the same period. That disparity makes this pearl clutching all the more amusing, but people do love a bit of tribalism. Can't we all just get along?
Related Story: Lucid, Tesla, Rivian Cost Auto Dealers $910 Million In Profits
Cover image 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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