Gravity GT Supernova Bronze deliveries

[Nocturnal]

Just received notification from my SA here in California that Gravity GT Supernova Bronze production will start in October and deliveries will take place within 1-4 months from October. No word about impact of other known constraints, like technology package or HUD. Personally, I don't have either in my build, so taking this time frame at its face value.

 

[Neurio]

I'll believe it when I see it, given how well the production timeline has gone so far.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Dejavu Grey delay haha. It’s ok I’m sure will be worth the wait.

 

[jbrichgels]

Thanks for the update. That is the color we are waiting on too so this information is helpful for us to decide whether we want to stick it out until then or find a second-best choice for color (if anything other than green or black will arrive any earlier).

 

[Nocturnal]

My SA told me the production for most other colors starts in July, and it's going to be the same 1-4 months wait for delivery, depending on packages you selected. So, 3 months delay waiting for Supernova Bronze. Each color & packages combo will be produced in batches, where they make, say 500 identical cars of certain color & packages combo and the match between configuration you selected and such batch will determine if you have to wait closer to a month or to a 4 months. From what I understand, Lucid doesnt really have organized, sequential orders queue. If there are more customers waiting for a specific batch than the batch size only then they will sort those orders by placement date and first 500 customers will be assigned a car, and the rest of the customers waiting for that batch will have to wait full cycle, until they make all other batches with other configurations and then eventually come back to make a second batch of the configuration that didnt have enough cars for all customers waiting for it.

 

[hmp10]

My SA told me the production for most other colors starts in July, and it's going to be the same 1-4 months wait for delivery, depending on packages you selected. So, 3 months delay waiting for Supernova Bronze. Each color & packages combo will be produced in batches, where they make, say 500 identical cars of certain color & packages combo and the match between configuration you selected and such batch will determine if you have to wait closer to a month or to a 4 months. From what I understand, Lucid doesnt really have organized, sequential orders queue. If there are more customers waiting for a specific batch than the batch size only then they will sort those orders by placement date and first 500 customers will be assigned a car, and the rest of the customers waiting for that batch will have to wait full cycle, until they make all other batches with other configurations and then eventually come back to make a second batch of the configuration that didnt have enough cars for all customers waiting for it.

This sounds logical in light of what we've been able to discern about order/delivery so far.

It also sounds like a throwback to the days before the Japanese introduced us to more sophisticated ways to run production lines back in the late 1970's and 1980's.

 

[TahoeMichael]

This sounds logical in light of what we've been able to discern about order/delivery so far.

It also sounds like a throwback to the days before the Japanese introduced us to more sophisticated ways to run production lines back in the late 1970's and 1980's.

My impression is that any manufacturer's painting equipment doesn't quickly change colors. At a certain production volume it ceases to matter much, because they'll have multiple painting rooms (bays? machines? not sure the right term). But Lucid is still low volume, so the color switchover is an issue.

 

[Adnillien]

Lucid's paint shop can change colors on every car. The Paint shop is not limiting the color choice or the number of cars in a color that are run together. The choice of batching/batch size, is being made for other reasons.

 

[WeighingGravity]

Lucid's paint shop can change colors on every car. The Paint shop is not limiting the color choice or the number of cars in a color that are run together. The choice of batching/batch size, is being made for other reasons.

Do you have any insight on what the other reasons are?

 

[Adnillien]

New colors, like bronze, require extensive matching of colors for different materials. The plastic parts and the Al body all need to look the same when the vehicle is completed. This does require significant time.

 

[WeighingGravity]

New colors, like bronze, require extensive matching of colors for different materials. The plastic parts and the Al body all need to look the same when the vehicle is completed. This does require significant time.

Thanks, I had not considered that. I was surprised how much they were batching colors because it was also my expectation that modern paint lines can be changed over very quickly.

This is more evidence (to me) that there are a lot more than just "supply chain" issues holding up production. Transfer to manufacturing is a huge, time-consuming phase in product development - maybe the longest phase if you don't count early R&D. Seems like Lucid either didn't plan this phase very well, or delivered the design late to this phase. These are anticipatable considerations that should have been accounted for in the schedule. It also raises some of the admittedly Monday morning quarterback questions like "Did they really need to deliver a new silver?" if the old silver might have shortcutted some of these delivery problems.

Oh well, it is what it is I guess.

 

[borski]

Thanks, I had not considered that. I was surprised how much they were batching colors because it was also my expectation that modern paint lines can be changed over very quickly.

This is more evidence (to me) that there are a lot more than just "supply chain" issues holding up production. Transfer to manufacturing is a huge, time-consuming phase in product development - maybe the longest phase if you don't count early R&D. Seems like Lucid either didn't plan this phase very well, or delivered the design late to this phase. These are anticipatable considerations that should have been accounted for in the schedule. It also raises some of the admittedly Monday morning quarterback questions like "Did they really need to deliver a new silver?" if the old silver might have shortcutted some of these delivery problems.

Oh well, it is what it is I guess.

Changing the paint line is relatively quick. Ensuring colors are all matched properly is less quick, and some colors are harder than others. For example, Zenith Red was a huge pain because of the way it applies on plastic vs aluminum; it just takes some time, so they are doing the easier colors / ones they're already perfected first.