All discussion of Lucid Motors

[wws]

In the race to build the "best car" vs the "best EV", a luxury manufacturer really does need to pay attention to the interior. Quality leather has been a part of fine automobile seating and interiors for as long as there have been automobiles. Heck - even my Volt has leather seating surfaces. (Perforated too - something Tesla should do even with their fake leather.)

I was underwhelmed at the appearance of the cloth used in the seats and door panels of the prototype car I saw. They need to up that game a bit. I'm not against cloth interiors. In fact my old Suburban has cloth seating surfaces. After 25 years they still clean up almost like new.

 

[RobStark]

Leather against your skin? Ew. I put up with animal skin seats in cars because they are durable and easier to clean than cloth, especially with kids. But I much prefer soft fuzzy fabric touching my skin than hot sticky leather. There's a reason people don't wear leather underwear!

Sorry I just don't get luxury car buyers' leather fetish. Tesla's synthetics are more or less the same as leather, except better for the environment. A high quality fabric would be even better (well, after my kids are old enough to stop putting shoe prints all over!)

Fuzzy fabric underwear? EW disgusting!

Tesla's vinyl is nothing like premium leather. Cheap leather which is basically a thin cheap hide covered in vinyl? Yes, it is like that type of leather.

My current leather seats are ventilated. On most luxury cars they are also cooled. I am a shorts and t-shirt LA guy. Like it every time my hands, arm or legs come in contact with the leather.

People have bought leather products for how they feel and look for over a millennia.

 

[RobStark]

(Perforated too - something Tesla should do even with their fake leather.)

Tesla did this for a while. Customers said the vinyl ripped easily. So Tesla got rid of the perforations.

 

[uujjj2]

We got a serious debate going on leather seats!

Maybe it's a Bay Area vs. LA thing. LA is more into style and glamour. The Bay Area is all about business. In LA the poor people wear designer clothes. In the Bay Area the rich people wear ratty old sweaters.

RobStark makes some LA-ish arguments for leather. It "feels" better. It's more rich, more luxury.

And Mr. Uujjj makes very Bay Area arguments against leather. It's bad for the environment. It's hot and sticky compared to cloth, unless you poke a bunch of holes in it in which case it's less durable and just as porous as cloth.

Tesla has a non-flashy solution. Synthetic material that's lower environmental impact, no perforations so it's easy to keep clean, and the workaround for it getting hot and sticky is to turn on the AC from the app a few minutes before you get in the car. If you're a Bay Area millionaire-with-Ikea-furniture, the Tesla approach makes total sense. If you're an LA style connoisseur with a taste for expensive luxury, it'll drive you crazy.

Mr. Uujjj is thinking Lucid should go Tesla style and offer the leather-alternative base interior with the Dream Edition powertrain, and call it the Bay Area edition!

 

[JRP3]

People have bought leather products for how they feel and look for over a millennia.

Because at the time it was the best "tech" available.

 

[wws]

We got a serious debate going on leather seats!

Maybe it's a Bay Area vs. LA thing. LA is more into style and glamour. The Bay Area is all about business. In LA the poor people wear designer clothes. In the Bay Area the rich people wear ratty old sweaters.

RobStark makes some LA-ish arguments for leather. It "feels" better. It's more rich, more luxury.

And Mr. Uujjj makes very Bay Area arguments against leather. It's bad for the environment. It's hot and sticky compared to cloth, unless you poke a bunch of holes in it in which case it's less durable and just as porous as cloth.

Tesla has a non-flashy solution. Synthetic material that's lower environmental impact, no perforations so it's easy to keep clean, and the workaround for it getting hot and sticky is to turn on the AC from the app a few minutes before you get in the car. If you're a Bay Area millionaire-with-Ikea-furniture, the Tesla approach makes total sense. If you're an LA style connoisseur with a taste for expensive luxury, it'll drive you crazy.

Mr. Uujjj is thinking Lucid should go Tesla style and offer the leather-alternative base interior with the Dream Edition powertrain, and call it the Bay Area edition!

Well... This Silicon Valley resident would go leather too - if it were available. Choice is good. Though I had no complaints about the MB-Tex in the MB I traded in for my Model 3.

Case in point: I bought one of the first Gen 2 Volts in the Bay Area in Oct 2015. Saw another fellow with one in the grocery store parking lot and we started comparing notes. He was from India and was lamenting that he had to buy the stripper base version because he didn't want leather seats. (As it was, his steering wheel was leather covered. But I didn't mention it.) So GM really missed the mark on that one. If they had offered the Premier version with all the amenities, but with non-leather seating and steering wheel, they could have made a much more profitable sale to him and folks like him.

 

[uujjj2]

Well... This Silicon Valley resident would go leather too - if it were available. Choice is good. Though I had no complaints about the MB-Tex in the MB I traded in for my Model 3.

Case in point: I bought one of the first Gen 2 Volts in the Bay Area in Oct 2015. Saw another fellow with one in the grocery store parking lot and we started comparing notes. He was from India and was lamenting that he had to buy the stripper base version because he didn't want leather seats. (As it was, his steering wheel was leather covered. But I didn't mention it.) So GM really missed the mark on that one. If they had offered the Premier version with all the amenities, but with non-leather seating and steering wheel, they could have made a much more profitable sale to him and folks like him.

For sure. People outside the Bay may not realize the demographics here. If you go to the richest rich neighborhoods in the Bay Area, you can't miss the smell of curry masala in the air. If you are selling luxury goods in the Bay Area, make sure you offer a no-dead-cows option!

 

[mk677]

For sure. People outside the Bay may not realize the demographics here. If you go to the richest rich neighborhoods in the Bay Area, you can't miss the smell of curry masala in the air. If you are selling luxury goods in the Bay Area, make sure you offer a no-dead-cows option!

your comments are getting quite absurd.

 

[RobStark]

Because at the time it was the best "tech" available.

Still is.

 

[RobStark]

We got a serious debate going on leather seats!

Maybe it's a Bay Area vs. LA thing. LA is more into style and glamour. The Bay Area is all about business. In LA the poor people wear designer clothes. In the Bay Area the rich people wear ratty old sweaters.

This Silicon Valley CEO wearing custom $1500 leather sneakers. (snake skin accents too)

Instagram CEO with $500 leather sneakers

Airbnb CEO with $600 leather sneakers

I could go on and on.

SV aristocrats dress casual not cheap. They wear $200 t-shirts.

 

[alloverx]

Lucid showroom going up at UW Village (outdoor mall) in Seattle; there is a Tesla showroom there also.

 

[bkp_duke]

Open up a separate thread to discuss leather. It doesn't belong here.

 

[wws]

Open up a separate thread to discuss leather. It doesn't belong here.

It does - in the context of what interior options Lucid will be offering.

 

[bkp_duke]

It does - in the context of what interior options Lucid will be offering.

A causal first comment might have belonged here. This has since spun off the rails with practically zero value to the main top of Lucid.

 

[uujjj2]

Agreed let's set aside the leather debate...

Lucid is coming out of the same Silicon Valley culture as Tesla. So I'm skeptical of Lucid winning on opulence but bullish on their technology. If you look at videos of the Lucid, it's more "luxury" inside than a Tesla, but not by that much. Compared to the Merc EQS the Lucid still looks pretty minimalist.

 

[uujjj2]

And right off the bat CEO Rawlinson criticizes traditional luxury car interiors for being too ostentatious. Rawlinson comes from not one but two automakers famous for minimalism: Tesla and Lotus.

 

[kelly]

For what it is worth, I took a drive out to the Lucid factory today. I think it was about 6 months ago that I was last there. It really looks finished now. There is a nice entrance off of Thornton Road and at 3:15 pm it looked like about 300 cars in the parking lot. The parking lot had a section for electric vehicle charging. No Lucids parked there, but there were 4 Teslas and 1 Coda.

 

[Fred42]

For what it is worth, I took a drive out to the Lucid factory today. I think it was about 6 months ago that I was last there. It really looks finished now. There is a nice entrance off of Thornton Road and at 3:15 pm it looked like about 300 cars in the parking lot. The parking lot had a section for electric vehicle charging. No Lucids parked there, but there were 4 Teslas and 1 Coda.

Did you check out the Nikola plant? I think that's nearby.

 

[kelly]

Did you check out the Nikola plant? I think that's nearby.

Ha! It didn't occur to me to check it out. I may do that the next time I'm out that way. But here is a 2/28/2021 video that actually surprised me a bit. I think subconsciously I have dismissed them from being real.

 

[RobStark]

And right off the bat CEO Rawlinson criticizes traditional luxury car interiors for being too ostentatious. Rawlinson comes from not one but two automakers famous for minimalism: Tesla and Lotus.

I don't want a discothèque in my car.

Just leather seating surfaces.

Manual adjustment for seats, mirrors and volume(preferably a knob here).

Grab handle for front passenger ( for my 95 year old dad I take to doctors appointments).

Glove Box "open" button. And a specific spot to store sunglasses.

Just like I had back in the day with my 2003 Honda Accord. Not a Mayback or Rolls Royce.