Blog Lucid Motors to Debut Luxury EV Priced $169K

Lucid Motors will plans to offer four versions of its all-electric luxury sedan ranging in price from under $80,000 up to $169,000, according to reports.

Bloomberg says a high-end variant of the Air called the Dream will cost $169,000, a Grand Touring variant will be priced in the low $130,000s after federal tax credits, and a Touring model will be priced at $100,000.

TechCrunch reported that Lucid will release a cheaper base model priced under $80,000.

Lucid Motors has promised that its performance and technology will be competitive with Tesla. In terms of range, the Air has an estimated U.S. EPA range of 517 miles compared to about 400 miles for the Tesla Model S. Lucid has also touted impressive acceleration, traveling the quarter-mile in just 9.9-seconds. 

The production version of the Lucid Air is scheduled to debut at 4 p.m. PT today via livestream.  

 

[Cosmacelf]

Sounds expensive. Anyone care to put together a chart comparing to a Model S as far as price goes?

 

[SSonnentag]

Well, the way I see it is that the first one to bring something to market has the luxury of setting their prices high to cover R&D. All latecomers lose that prerogative are pretty much relegated to selling at the current going rate, which I would argue Tesla sets the prices for at this point in time. Lucid will sell a few to high-rollers, but they're going to have a tough road ahead if they want to become a mainstream vehicle manufacturer.

 

[BlindPass]

Well, the way I see it is that the first one to bring something to market has the luxury of setting their prices high to cover R&D. All latecomers lose that prerogative are pretty much relegated to selling at the current going rate, which I would argue Tesla sets the prices for at this point in time. Lucid will sell a few to high-rollers, but they're going to have a tough road ahead if they want to become a mainstream vehicle manufacturer.

The EV market has a ton of growth ahead. Unless you anticipate there to be only one mainstream manufacturer, very little has been set.

I don’t think Lucid is aiming to be mainstream, but any company capable of leading efficiency and performance can sell a lot of cars.

 

[SSonnentag]

The EV market has a ton of growth ahead. Unless you anticipate there to be only one mainstream manufacturer, very little has been set.

I don’t think Lucid is aiming to be mainstream, but any company capable of leading efficiency and performance can sell a lot of cars.

There's plenty of room for competition in the mainstream EV market, but you didn't see KIA or Hyundai entering the US market with nearly double the prices of Toyota, Nissan, GM or Ford for roughly equivalent vehicles.

 

[BlindPass]

There's plenty of room for competition in the mainstream EV market, but you didn't see KIA or Hyundai entering the US market with nearly double the prices of Toyota, Nissan, GM or Ford for roughly equivalent vehicles.

Again, you seem to think the hierarchy has been set. This isn’t the case.

In your brand analogy, spartan robo taxis Tesla is aiming to be the Kia but currently charging BMW prices. Lucid seems to targeting the S class, and it has the price and performance. We’ll see if it has the luxury.

It’s ironic you went with this response though. Do you recall the reaction when the S was released? Many had the same reaction you have on Lucid. Why would anyone besides environmentalists spend that kind of money on a car that has limited range, 5.5 0-60, inferior fit and finish, etc. Sure, Tesla is out there now, but it’s just a big fish in a bathtub and doesn’t constrain Lucid‘s pricing.

 

[SSonnentag]

Again, you seem to think the hierarchy has been set. This isn’t the case.

In your brand analogy, spartan robo taxis Tesla is aiming to be the Kia but currently charging BMW prices. Lucid seems to targeting the S class, and it has the price and performance. We’ll see if it has the luxury.

It’s ironic you went with this response though. Do you recall the reaction when the S was released? Many had the same reaction you have on Lucid. Why would anyone besides environmentalists spend that kind of money on a car that has limited range, 5.5 0-60, inferior fit and finish, etc. Sure, Tesla is out there now, but it’s just a big fish in a bathtub and doesn’t constrain Lucid‘s pricing.

I guess I see EVs as a NEW market rather than simply an addition to an existing one. So I classified Tesla as introducing a new product at a premium price. Now Lucid is coming along offering a vehicle that isn't what I would classify as "new", yet charging a premium 50% over what Tesla did as a new product. I have no doubts from what I've seen in the pictures and specifications that Lucid will be or is a higher class car as far as luxury goes, but question whether it is a big enough difference to warrant the large price gap. Time will tell, and I do welcome them as a newcomer to the EV world. I wish them nothing but the best, but couldn't justify the price premium.

 

[mrbulk]

No thanks. I'll take two Teslas please, an X and an S. Together still cheaper than $169K...

 

[ABCTG]

Not seeing anything from Lucid about accelerating the transition to sustainable transportation.
Seems like they want to sell a few expensive luxury electric vehicles. Fair enough.

 

[teslasuperfan]

Tesla fanboys are a tough crowd.... I gave up debating with them long time ago.......

 

[diplomat33]

Reveal is about to start:

 

[ohmman]

What is this "on time" start about? Very confusing.

 

[RED MDL3]

Glossy presentation but loses a lot not being live. Small opening to trunk reduces use like model 3. Frunk is huge.

 

[BlindPass]

I guess I see EVs as a NEW market rather than simply an addition to an existing one. So I classified Tesla as introducing a new product at a premium price. Now Lucid is coming along offering a vehicle that isn't what I would classify as "new", yet charging a premium 50% over what Tesla did as a new product. I have no doubts from what I've seen in the pictures and specifications that Lucid will be or is a higher class car as far as luxury goes, but question whether it is a big enough difference to warrant the large price gap. Time will tell, and I do welcome them as a newcomer to the EV world. I wish them nothing but the best, but couldn't justify the price premium.

I see the current EV market being so small that to the vast majority of future EV buyers, the last 8 years is rather irrelevant in terms of establishing brand caste system. It’s like Blackberry owning the the early smart phone market.

We’re wasting life in an EV forum- most car buyers aren’t as set in their EV views and will base it on the specs of the product. And judging by Lucid’s first EV design being a dual motor with just 113kWh going 517 miles and 9.9, they have the technical chops.

I’m not suggesting Tesla is Blackberry, btw, it’s actually quite similar to Apple.

 

[danny]

 

[pettittd]

The Model S comparable model in terms of performance will be 80K. Lucid is a team. Elon is an ego who panders to a nut job and literally killed people pitching CPAP machines as ventilators during the worst natural disaster in US history. How can an environmentalist with morals supplicate themselves to that prima donna now that there are real choices?

 

[Magellan55]

Actually we don't know what the base model has - likely not dual motor, likely smaller battery. Maybe equivalent to the old RWD S75. Seems the "touring" is closest to the current base S100D, and "Grand Touring" closest to the P100D in terms of performance. So like the Taycan, higher cost gets you a nicer interior for the same performance of Tesla. Air Dream maybe performs like the Plaid, whenever it comes out. Did they say when these models start shipping? Will they start with the Dream first, and not ship the base model for a year? If they don't even have specs on it yet, seems to be a paper tiger for now, like the base Taycan (and the $35K Model 3).

 

[MagnusMako]

Not seeing anything from Lucid about accelerating the transition to sustainable transportation.
Seems like they want to sell a few expensive luxury electric vehicles. Fair enough.

I think you should rethink that before jumping to conclusions. They are trying to tap into a niche market to differentiate themselves with a few innovative technologies. It's not much different than how Tesla has executed their 3 step master plan. They started high end and luxury and then worked their way towards affordable mainstream. You have to understand that producing a compelling car is one thing but producing a compelling affordable car at scale is many orders of magnitude more difficult as a startup. Lucid is just getting one factory going whereas Tesla is scaling up with many around the world and they still don't produce anywhere near as many cars as the incumbents 17 years after being founded. It is no easy task. If Lucid can achieve proving their core product first and gain some loyalty, they will have sucess and a chance to break into the market to further fuel their ventures towards mainstream. Their founder has a vision of supplying their tech for other manufacturers and also branching out into the energy sector as well. Like Tesla, they want to be considered a tech company, not just a car company. They have dreams, but these things take time. And in the car industry, it can be excruciating long time due to how much capital and effort must go into manufacturing. We should be rooting for them, because competition is good and I think Peter has a healthy vision of the future just like Elon does.

 

[BlindPass]

I think you should rethink that before jumping to conclusions. They are trying to tap into a niche market to differentiate themselves with a few innovative technologies. It's not much different than how Tesla has executed their 3 step master plan. They started high end and luxury and then worked their way towards affordable mainstream. You have to understand that producing a compelling car is one thing but producing a compelling affordable car at scale is many orders of magnitude more difficult as a startup. Lucid is just getting one factory going whereas Tesla is scaling up with many around the world and they still don't produce anywhere near as many cars as the incumbents 17 years after being founded. It is no easy task. If Lucid can achieve proving their core product first and gain some loyalty, they will have sucess and a chance to break into the market to further fuel their ventures towards mainstream. Their founder has a vision of supplying their tech for other manufacturers and also branching out into the energy sector as well. Like Tesla, they want to be considered a tech company, not just a car company. They have dreams, but these things take time. And in the car industry, it can be excruciating long time due to how much capital and effort must go into manufacturing. We should be rooting for them, because competition is good and I think Peter has a healthy vision of the future just like Elon does.

They have the core EV technology and design, if getting 500 miles and 2.5 0-60 on a car on 113kWh pack. Plus V2G and OTA.

From here it’s just executing the business plan, which is no easy task. Building the machine that builds the machine in Musk’s words. I do wonder if they have the Big Data/AI chops to monetize the potential of energy storage and IoT, which is a big part of Tesla’s valuation. They’re a Silicon startup, but Elon really brought that mindset to Tesla. Is Rawlinson more of a car CEO?

I’m more confident that Lucid can make the best EVs than I am they can compete with Tesla the looming conglomerate.

 

[ABCTG]

I think you should rethink that before jumping to conclusions. They are trying to tap into a niche market to differentiate themselves with a few innovative technologies. It's not much different than how Tesla has executed their 3 step master plan. They started high end and luxury and then worked their way towards affordable mainstream. You have to understand that producing a compelling car is one thing but producing a compelling affordable car at scale is many orders of magnitude more difficult as a startup. Lucid is just getting one factory going whereas Tesla is scaling up with many around the world and they still don't produce anywhere near as many cars as the incumbents 17 years after being founded. It is no easy task. If Lucid can achieve proving their core product first and gain some loyalty, they will have sucess and a chance to break into the market to further fuel their ventures towards mainstream. Their founder has a vision of supplying their tech for other manufacturers and also branching out into the energy sector as well. Like Tesla, they want to be considered a tech company, not just a car company. They have dreams, but these things take time. And in the car industry, it can be excruciating long time due to how much capital and effort must go into manufacturing. We should be rooting for them, because competition is good and I think Peter has a healthy vision of the future just like Elon does.

Absolutely.

Before watching the presentation, I looked around their website and didn't find anything about their vision.

After watching their presentation, it gives a more clearer idea of their intent.

I've always been rooting for Lucid, and very happy that now, after many years, they are finally going into production. The more EVs the better