Lucid Marketing

In the investors conference call, it looks like the question of marketing was pushed off until next time. I can guess that they don’t want to push marketing until software and service are a bit more sorted out. That might make sense. Still, about 40% of the people who see my Lucid Air Pure have never heard of Lucid before. How can this possibly be?

mwscan said:

In the investors conference call, it looks like the question of marketing was pushed off until next time. I can guess that they don’t want to push marketing until software and service are a bit more sorted out. That might make sense. Still, about 40% of the people who see my Lucid Air Pure have never heard of Lucid before. How can this possibly be?

Click to expand...

Most people aren't into cars enough to even perceive them, let alone be interested enough to look at a car ad. They can only be reached through word of mouth, and there aren't enough Lucids around to hit any kind of tipping point.

Might as well wait till cosmos is ready for launch. No point wasting money on low volume Gravity and Air.

DeaneG said:

Most people aren't into cars enough to even perceive them, let alone be interested enough to look at a car ad. They can only be reached through word of mouth, and there aren't enough Lucids around to hit any kind of tipping point.

Click to expand...

I respectfully disagree. Car ads are ubiquitous (on TV) and annoying as almost every third or fourth ad is about a car. I would agree with you that that same push is not there for EV’s, especially high end ones. I’m hoping that Lucid appeals more to the US crowd and latches onto the “buy American” sentiment. For me, when deciding between EV’s it played a decent role in getting my Air.

The only car ads I see are during sports events (its the only live TV i watch) and those are all affordable mass market vehicles. I haven't seen a luxury car ad outside of a Lexus in years....

I just typed 'top ev cars suvs US' and Lucid and Rivian were listed at the top by AI. In general what sells an EV is cheap range for mass market. Which is the Teslas, and used Air Pures. And really any lightly used off-lease EV...

gaskiller said:

Might as well wait till cosmos is ready for launch. No point wasting money on low volume Gravity and Air.

Click to expand...

Unless a new trim level on Gravity somehow greatly improves brand awareness and the gotta-have-it factor.

I was a bit shocked that other than a passing reference there was no discussion of marketing on the investor call particularly given how much unsold inventory the company is sitting on. But having reflected on it a bit I get it.

The last thing that the leadership wants to do right now is bring more attention to a company that's been failing at its execution. Stories around software glitches, unreliable key fobs, service center backlogs, and financial distress dominate today's headlines around Lucid. These problems aren't fixed quickly and drawing more attention to them only serves to harm the brand in the long term. It's also hard to engage in a reset when you're constantly being asked why things aren't working.

I see a major shift occurring in the coming months. A shift that likely de-emphasizes sales of the Air and Gravity and focuses more on the robotaxi and Cosmos. Spending limited cash on marketing the two current flagship products doesn't make a lot of sense if you plan on being an entirely different company with a very different focus a year from now. I think the short term focus is more centered around not harming the brand reputation any further while the company prepares for a relaunch as something very different in the future.

gaskiller said:

Might as well wait till cosmos is ready for launch. No point wasting money on low volume Gravity and Air.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Particularly since the current strategy is not to increase production on the Air and Gravity, but minimize the cash burn on each one sold. It's important to recognize that Lucid believes that it has enough cash to get it into 2027. But that plan is predicated on generating $1.4B in additional cash flow in 2026 while also investing in an improved customer service experience. And that's a very ambitious goal. It's a plan that's going to be met with more skepticism than enthusiasm.

Mass marketing for Lucid would be incredibly inefficient at the moment. The vehicles they have available right now are aimed at a tiny portion of the consumer market, and there are ways to reach that market directly.

It is highly likely that Lucid has already developed a tentative launch plan for the Cosmos. It will be modified and refined as they get closer to launch date, but they should have a general idea of what the launch marketing will be like.

Would Lucid benefit from higher brand awareness? Of course (who wouldn't?). It is a good investment of their resources to spend a lot of money promoting the brand right now? A big no.

I think it makes some sense to start build overall brand awareness as to what it will signify regarding the future mid-size. But the Air and Gravity are already #1 and #2 sellers in their segments without much marketing, and they are not mass market, so promoting those cars is not a good use of time and money.

They seem to be getting plenty of bad press brand awareness though and that is just the game you play with internet and social media....