My opinion... I may be wrong... Lucid did exactly what I expected them to do at the onset. With the Air, they came up with an outstanding design and great hardware, but with initial fit and finish issues and PRIMARILY software issues that only excited early adopters would tolerate. Lucid stuck tight with those early owners to resolve the hardware issues fairly quickly, but somewhat challenged their patience on the software side, along with poor quality control on their OTA updates. Within two years, however, the Air was only plagued with a few minor operating annoyances and delayed features.
BUT, the expectation was that the Air learning curve would lead to a much smoother Gravity launch... such that the time it took to get the Air up-to-speed would be at least cut in half, and thus build a credible case for Lucid to be able to move away from early adopters into the mainstream high-volume mid-size market with a fine-tuned launch. Think a really nice Chevy Bolt.
I don't know if it was bonus incentives, PIF demands, or whatever, but their BIG failure failure was bringing out the Gravity way too soon, such that it seemed that they learned nothing from the Air launch. (Perhaps they did learn very little.) Then, once they did start shipping the Gravity in volume, their HUGE failure was having let their service infrastructure fall woefully behind the demands of the installed base... not to mention the insanity of asking owners to drop off their vehicles for even minor repairs weeks before they expected the repairs to start.
One of the few things Lucid now needs to do is already underway. Emad Dalia has initiated major focus on more quickly resolving the software issues. What I have not seen is the initiation of major focus on ramping the service infrastructure to not only handle the current installed base, but to continue the ramp getting ready for mid-size... and to plan the mid-size such that it is not launched before it is at least 90% ready for prime time... even if that means waiting until 2028.
They can survive this if they move fast enough where they need to, and move slow enough where they need to.
Like I said. I may be wrong.
