Lucid Air Configurator Does Not Reveal Packages And Extras Pricing

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All cars still show only the prices Lucid revealed at the premiere – and the federal tax credit.
After Lucid revealed the production version of the Air, we were almost sure the company would not hide any other secrets from us – apart from the Lucid Gravity. The online car configurator shows we could not be more wrong: Lucid gives us no idea how much more expensive the electric sedan can get if fully loaded.
Lucid’s configurator is full of resources: you can open the car doors, interior compartments, turn on the lights, choose different views inside and outside of the car… It is oustanding, and you can spend quite some time trying to check details only a visit to a showroom would ensure otherwise. Yet, it lacks information.

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The Air Dream Edition costs $169,000, and it is allegedly limited, but Lucid has not informed to how many units. It comes standard with: 1,080 hp; the Dream Exclusive aluminum with a satin titanium finish for the roof structure; glass canopy; 21” Aero Dream Edition Forged Wheels; Santa Monica (Nappa and Alcantara) interior; Dream Drive Level 3 Autonomy; and Premium Audio packages.
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Customers can choose among three color options: Eureka Gold, Stellar White, and Infinite Black. They can also pick 19” Aero Range wheels and All-Weather Floor Mats. Another extra, the Cold Weather package, adds a heat pump to the car, something that we thought was a standard feature for the Air. It also includes heated wipers and rear seats. The Eureka Gold paint and 21” Aero Dream Edition wheels are only for the Air Dream Edition.
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Selecting all of these items does not change the $169,000 price at all. It remains the same apart from the federal tax credit, which brings the price down to $161,500. The same happens to the other two configurable trims, the Air Grand Touring ($139,000) and the Air Touring ($95,000). When the tax incentive is included, their prices are respectively reduced to $131,500 and $87,500.
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The Grand Touring and Touring have more color options than the Dream Edition: apart from Stellar White and Infinite Black, buyers can also choose Cosmo Silver, Quantum Grey, and Zenith Red.

The Air Grand Touring comes with 800 hp and the whopping range of up to 517 mi, while the Air Touring runs up to 406 mi with its 620 hp. Both of them can get what Lucid calls Performance Package, but is all the description the company provides at the configurator. The two-page PDF you can download there also does not help.

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Apart from the more extended range and more power, the Grand Touring also comes standard with 21” Aero Blade wheels, the Dream Drive Level 3 Autonomy, and Premium Audio packages to explain part of the price difference. Unfortunately, the configurator does not disclose which part it is.

The wheels for the Air Touring are 20” Aero Lite wheels. Lucid also offers the option of the wheels that the Grand Touring has and the 19” Aero Range wheels, which name gives us the impression they may provide more energy efficiency for those that just want to drive further. We wish the tire specifications for these wheels were included.

Both trim levels come with a Platinum roof structure finish and the Santa Cruz interior, which includes Nappa black leather for the front seats and “ceramic” (white) Nappa leather in the back, as well as North American Walnut trim. There is no Air with similarly colored seats in both rows.

Source: https://insideevs.com/news/443560/l...medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-all-articles
 
On most car configurators there is a small info icon by each option. When you click the icon you get more details about the option. This is a significant shortcoming in the Lucid configurator.

Also, I've found that clicking the buttons to open a storage lid or activate some other feature only works sporadically. I don't know if that's because the site is getting so many hits right now or whether it's a problem with the site itself.
 
One of the things about which I would like to know more is the Cold Weather option. It uses a heat pump to heat and, presumably, also cool the interior. In terms of electricity draw, a heat pump is more efficient than a conventional A/C system for cooling and vastly more efficient than resistance coils for heating. I'm wondering why the heat pump is an option instead of the standard HVAC unit for the Air. Is it larger, heavier, more complex and thus something that only has meaningful payback in cold climates?
 
Yesterday my sales rep pointed out to me that the configurator for the Dream Edition shows this on the right photo bar with the options. You cannot "unselect" this variant option. It would appear that the Dream Edition does not have the recessed footwells, despite two photos of the interior on the Dream Edition on the configurator showing the car with recessed footwells.

This also means that the "LEAP" battery platform that Lucid talks about in interviews and in photos in articles about a 113-kWh battery pack is not, in fact, a 113-kWh pack but something of lower capacity.


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Lucid's website has a story posted with this headline:

Lucid Air Dream Edition: 9.9 Second Quarter Mile with 1080 HP

The first graphic in that story about the Dream Edition is a picture of the "LEAP" battery platform, which has recessed footwells. Now, you would expect that they are showing the battery pack of the Dream Edition, since this story is about the Dream Edition. Not only that, but the photo of the "LEAP" platform shows this table:


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Only the Dream Edition has more than 1000 hp. Also, Lucid has claimed that its largest pack -- the one that will attain 517 miles of range -- will be 113-kWh hour.

Yet the "LEAP" pack that is pictured with this table is apparently neither the pack in the Dream Edition nor the pack that attains 517 miles of range.

This advertising is misleading in the extreme.
 
Misleading, or at very least, sloppy.

Even more, you’re left to cobble together what the specs are for a $170k from pictures and bullet points across several generic releases.

I admit I’m impatient and everything will be cleared up eventually, but perhaps they did a 12/1 release on 9/9.
 
This is a photograph of the interior that is posted on the Dream Edition configurator:

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It clearly shows recessed footwells. This is the kind of distance from the seat to the floor that you would find in the backseat of a Mercedes S Class or BMW 7 Series and one of the reasons their rear quarters are so remarkably comfortable. If you visualize raising that floorboard by the thickness of a battery module, you can see just how much legroom is lost and why adults find their knees jacked up under their chins as we saw in that video of the Dream Edition from the reveal that the Administrator posted.
 
Here is another photo from the Dream Edition configurator. Again, recessed footwells are clearly featured. Lucid seems to be trying to make the rear quarters appear more roomy than they are. Either that, or the website creator is just grabbing pictures anywhere he can find them and slapping them anywhere he pleases on the website without any review or editing by marketing people or product designers.

It throws into doubt the reliability of the new website and configurator on pretty much any point.

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Here's another example of confusing information. This is from the "Specs" tab on the new website:

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This shows a difference in legroom of 1.6".

The SAE standard for measuring legroom is the distance from the back of the front seat to the back of the rear seat. The distance to the floorboard is not a factor.

If this measurement is using the industry standard for measuring, why would there be less distance between the front and back seats with the long range battery than the standard range battery? Does this mean that you're not only losing footwell depth in the Dream Edition, but you're also having the distance between the front and back seats reduced?

If Lucid is using its own method of measurement and taking distance to the floorboard into account, why would the difference in legroom be only 1.6". The battery modules are considerably thicker than that.

None of this makes any sense.
 
. . . perhaps they did a 12/1 release on 9/9.

Yes. I don't think Lucid was anywhere near prepared for a global reveal and opening an order configurator on 9/9. It really makes me wonder what they were thinking in originally planning the reveal for the New York Auto Show last April.
 
Here's another wrinkle. "Motor Trend" just posted a video. Its reporter was going over a Dream Edition with Derek Jenkins (Lucid VP of Design). You can see from this still frame that the car is gold and thus definitely a Dream Edition. This car seems to have the recessed footwells.

According to my sales rep, Lucid had two cars at the reveal on Wednesday: a gold one and a white one. The white one was featured in the video the site administrator published Thursday. My sales rep has confirmed that was the white car at the reveal, as Derek Jenkins was present in that video, tool. It clearly did not have the recessed footwells.

Were there two different versions of the Dream Edition at the reveal?


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FWIW, I just got the digital brochure of the Dream Edition I configured. It shows recessed rear footwells as in the above picture from the Motor Trend video.
 
Here's another example of confusing information. This is from the "Specs" tab on the new website:

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This shows a difference in legroom of 1.6".

The SAE standard for measuring legroom is the distance from the back of the front seat to the back of the rear seat. The distance to the floorboard is not a factor.

If this measurement is using the industry standard for measuring, why would there be less distance between the front and back seats with the long range battery than the standard range battery? Does this mean that you're not only losing footwell depth in the Dream Edition, but you're also having the distance between the front and back seats reduced?

If Lucid is using its own method of measurement and taking distance to the floorboard into account, why would the difference in legroom be only 1.6". The battery modules are considerably thicker than that.

None of this makes any sense.

I really have to see the car in the showroom because this measurement is not defined consistently. The rear seat space needs to match or exceed my s class - a big factor for me. I really don’t know how the legrooms are measured but there is no way a Mercedes s class only has 35 to 37 inches of legroom. The only possibility of such low legroom figures is when I push the bottom of my cushion forward all the way to extend and slightly recline the seats (cushion would be sticking forward about 5 or 6 inches from the lower base). It usually has a longer rear legroom than my front (without extending or reclining the rear seat) so it has at least 42 inches+ legroom and the seat cushion is long and supportive. I guess I just have to find out in a studio and hopefully this won’t end up being the same size as the Tesla model S (I was disappointed and stayed with the s class).

I am supportive of new EV products. Nonetheless, I experienced a huge turned off (5-6 years back then) when some marketing materials, sales and claims that a product was a direct and strong competitor to mercedes s class just to find out it really isn’t comparable at all. It should have marketed against AMG E63 instead. Finger crossed the same mistake won’t happen to Lucid and I really hope it tries to better understand the folks in the luxury segment especially with Mercedes s class/bmw 7, AMG S63s, audi RS8, 760/alpine b7, and Brabus segment. Not to be too critical but I think even taking a look at Hyundai Genesis G90 (I think...) or Lexus LS (less so nowadays) historical evolution would help steer the product toward the right interior quality considerations. Also, please avoid those “price reduction from electric or feel good cost saving“ gimmick. It works well for price sensitive intro products but it does not work for your target segment. Actually, comments from a few very valuable potential customers here are really reasonable and should be addressed (with highest quality, clear/simple prices, all inclusive product offerings to avoid wasting time). Without nickel and dime the customers/fuzzy product language, offer clear and unparalleled value/performance/warranty/care and break into the industry first. We would be your extended sales person to market your product and the more customers would also help you aggregate data (which is money) to accelerate your software offering and learning algorithm.

On the other hand, if Lucid ever tries to put out a MX-5 like simple sports car, I would have close to no interior requirements but simply fun, good handling and well balanced setup for the track and autocross. But a C8 ZR1 corvette competitor would be a more likely development candidate.

In terms of engineering, Lucid is ahead of the game and really innovative. This would be great for the players in the EV space. Just adding more motors with any EV motors to go faster and or aiming for 1000 miles battery is just a waste in effort. At this point, the differences between Lucid vs others in EV tech is similar to Waymo vs others... there are products for the mass (like apple) and there are more engineering advanced products that are less friendly but capable. If done right, you will have an innovation following fan supporting the firm.
 
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hmp10 and I have coordinated our efforts and are communicating with the Lucid Sales Team. We have provided Lucid with a comprehensive consolidated listing of our outstanding questions that we would like answered. In addition, we had several in depth discussions with the Sales Team last week, as late as last Friday evening. The Sales Team understands very clearly that as potential customers, subsequent to the Global Reveal of the "production ready" Air, we all expect answers to our questions.

I, for one, have also informed the Sales Team that I will request a full refund of my $25,500.00 Dream edition Reservation deposit and cancel my Reservation if we do not receive the answer to our most basic question - Will the Dream Edition have recessed rear footwells or not?

Both hmp10 and I will keep everyone advised of what we learn.
 
hmp10 and I have coordinated our efforts and are communicating with the Lucid Sales Team. We have provided Lucid with a comprehensive consolidated listing of our outstanding questions that we would like answered. In addition, we had several in depth discussions with the Sales Team last week, as late as last Friday evening. The Sales Team understands very clearly that as potential customers, subsequent to the Global Reveal of the "production ready" Air, we all expect answers to our questions.

I, for one, have also informed the Sales Team that I will request a full refund of my $25,500.00 Dream edition Reservation deposit and cancel my Reservation if we do not receive the answer to our most basic question - Will the Dream Edition have recessed rear footwells or not?

Both hmp10 and I will keep everyone advised of what we learn.
Thank you both for leading the effort and helping the rest of us.

Hopefully Lucid would hear the voice and resolve the footwell issue or add the third motor to the dream.

 
Looking at the configurator, it seems the Grand Touring comes with the same battery pack, the same number of motors, and comes standard with everything on the Dream Edition except 280 additional horsepower and the 21" forged wheels. Yet the price differential is $30,000. At the same time, you're getting more exterior and interior colors choices, more wheel choices (21", 20", 19"), and more range with the Grand Touring.

This is the kind price differential you would see in moving to higher performance levels in a Porsche, Mercedes, or BMW. But with those brands, in moving up you usually pick up more cylinders, turbo- or superchargers, larger brakes, more robust suspensions, higher flow exhaust systems, often different transmissions, etc.

Lucid is making only one drive unit to be used across its Air lineup. The difference in output between versions probably has largely to do with different software programming. $30,000 is a huge premium to pay for spiffier wheels and a different software program.

I can't even being to imagine how much extra they'll want for a third drive unit.
 
Looking at the configurator, it seems the Grand Touring comes with the same battery pack, the same number of motors, and comes standard with everything on the Dream Edition except 280 additional horsepower and the 21" forged wheels. Yet the price differential is $30,000. At the same time, you're getting more exterior and interior colors choices, more wheel choices (21", 20", 19"), and more range with the Grand Touring.

This is the kind price differential you would see in moving to higher performance levels in a Porsche, Mercedes, or BMW. But with those brands, in moving up you usually pick up more cylinders, turbo- or superchargers, larger brakes, more robust suspensions, higher flow exhaust systems, often different transmissions, etc.

Lucid is making only one drive unit to be used across its Air lineup. The difference in output between versions probably has largely to do with different software programming. $30,000 is a huge premium to pay for spiffier wheels and a different software program.

I can't even being to imagine how much extra they'll want for a third drive unit.
This articulated my hesitation.

Yes, value shopping is out the window when in this price range, but I don’t want to feel swindled either.

$30k is a steep markup to stomach just a corked motor. And they’re still possibly sandbagging in order to facilitate OTA freemiums. I’m not sure I’d feel good on either side (GT or Dream). On one hand I’m frustrated I spent $130k on a car that physically is capable of much more. On the other, I’m ticked it cost me $30k to get that unlocked.
 
I spoke to my representative today at Lucid and he confirms that the Dream Edition does NOT have recessed footwells.
 
I spoke to my representative today at Lucid and he confirms that the Dream Edition does NOT have recessed footwells.
I may be in denial, but I wonder if anyone knows for sure.

It’s not a deal breaker to me personally, but I fear to not have it on the Dream edition is indicative of a failed attempt of luxury EV. More luxurious than the S? I’d hope so, but the backseat in the YouTube video is what I’d expect buying a Honda Accord.
 
Both hmp10 and I can confirm, after discussions with Lucid sales representatives, that both the Dream Edition and Grand Touring will not have the recessed rear footwells as depicted in the pics on the Configurator.

The Dream Edition and Grand Touring were designed to maximize performance, range, and efficiency. Their Platform (skateboard) utilizes the maximum number of battery modules and therefore, the rear footwells will contain battery modules. This platform (variant) is accurately depicted on the Configurator.

The Lucid Design and Engineering teams are actively working on improving the rear legroom and/or foot room for these models. Nothing has been committed to, but, they seem genuinely determined to make this happen, if at all possible.

Lucid maintains that both the Grand Touring and Dream Edition variants have ample leg and foot room, however the Touring variant will have even more leg room with the recessed footwells due to the fewer modules in the battery pack.

Lucid takes responsibility for the confusion they created by including interior pics of the rear seat area which clearly show recessed rear footwells for both the Dream Edition and Grand Touring. They will replace those pics with ones that are more representative (but, may not be the final representation) of what the rear footwell area will look like as soon as possible.

When the intended modifications are finalized they will publish final specs and I assume pics.

We will keep you apprised as best we can.
 
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