{"id":30730,"date":"2022-09-03T09:03:43","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T13:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=30730"},"modified":"2022-09-03T09:03:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T13:03:43","slug":"1137049_lucid-air-pure-undercuts-model-s-price-efficiency-nearing-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=30730","title":{"rendered":"Lucid Air Pure undercuts the Model S in price and efficiency, and it’s nearing production"},"content":{"rendered":"

California\u2019s Lucid Motors, which just last week started taking reservations for its most expensive model yet, the quarter-million-dollar, 1,200-plus hp Air Sapphire, might already be starting production of its most affordable, sub-$90,000 Air Pure version.<\/p>\n

In a Twitter post Friday, the company provided a glimpse of a Lucid Air coming off the production line with a solid aluminum roof. That\u2019s a distinct variation from the glass canopy roof built into the Air Dream Edition and Grand Touring models that the company has been making up until now. And considering that the solid roof is coming with later availability to the mid-range Air Touring but is a distinguishing feature of the Air Pure from the start, all signs pointed to the latter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

This #LaborDayWeekend<\/a>, we celebrate those who roll up their sleeves and get things done. #DreamAhead<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/EGKJ8r9kI5<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Lucid Motors (@LucidMotors) September 2, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lucid confirmed to Green Car Reports<\/em> that the car in the picture with CEO\/CTO Peter Rawlinson and chief engineer Eric Bach is indeed an Air Pure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s the version starting at $88,900, including the $1,500 destination fee. The Lucid Air Pure will be available in a single-motor rear-wheel-drive configuration, flagged in Lucid\u2019s build tool for \u201clater availability\u201d\u2014so it\u2019s likely that this early Pure models have the $5,500 dual-motor all-wheel drive option, bringing the total to at least $94,400.<\/p>\n

The Pure is the entry point for the lineup but isn\u2019t stripped-down; it\u2019s the package that CEO Rawlinson has singled out for being the \u201cpurest expression of the Air,\u201d as its flatter battery packaging\u2014shared with the Touring\u2014allows more rear footwell space. It is also lighter and more in line with the company\u2019s emphasis on efficiency<\/a>. In the not-so-distant future, its technology might help allow mass-market EVs that can go farther with smaller battery packs than rival models.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lucid has listed the Air Pure as achieving an anticipated range of 406 miles\u2014not yet EPA-confirmed, but coincidentally 1 mile longer than the current longest-range Tesla Model S. The Lucid Air shows its efficiency superiority in achieving that with a usable battery capacity somewhere near its listed 88 kwh, while the Model S has a usable capacity of about 95 kwh.<\/p>\n

\"2022<\/p>\n

2022 Lucid Air<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And although Tesla showed a competitive edge<\/a> when Lucid first announced Air details, it\u2019s since hiked its prices once again. At present, a non-Plaid Model S starts at $106,190\u2014apples to apples, nearly a $12,000 difference between dual-motor versions with 400-plus miles of EPA range.<\/p>\n

This all said, no formal announcement about its production ramp or arrival timeline has yet been issued by the automaker. The Air Touring and Air Pure have both been due by the end of the year, according to Lucid, and even though the company\u2019s ramp-up of volume hasn\u2019t been going as quickly as originally planned, it\u2019s a good sign to see a mix of models being made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At last update the Lucid Air Touring and Grand Touring were both expected in Q4, but it\u2019s feasible that the automaker might have skipped ahead to the Pure first for supply-chain reasons and a production ramp that\u2019s gone slower than anticipated. Earlier this year, the company pointed to glass as one of the commodity items it was having issues procuring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Lucid<\/p>\n

Lucid Air in production – Casa Grande, Arizona<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Lucid last month halved its 2022 production estimate<\/a>, reporting continued supply-chain and logistics challenges. The company now expects to deliver 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles in 2022, and at the end of the first half of this year had delivered 1,039 vehicles\u2014amounting to 1,164 total Air models delivered to that date.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finding buyers is definitely not the issue. As of August 3, Lucid reported more than 37,000 reservations, a number up about 7,000 versus the previous quarter and despite a big price hike of up to $15,000<\/a> across the model line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lucid currently has an installed capacity of 34,000 vehicles annually, should it push past those issues, and a Phase 2 expansion upping capacity to 90,000 units annually\u2014including space to build the upcoming Gravity SUV<\/a>\u2014is planned for early 2023. It\u2019s also broken ground on a Saudi Arabia factory<\/a> that will be able to make up to 155,000 vehicles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California\u2019s Lucid Motors, which just last week started taking reservations for its most expensive model yet, the quarter-million-dollar, 1,200-plus hp Air Sapphire, might already be starting production of its most affordable, sub-$90,000 Air Pure version. In a Twitter post Friday, the company provided a glimpse of a Lucid Air coming off the production line with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}