What's new
By:

Lots of Gravity inventory in Miami World Center garage.

I took delivery of a loaded Gravity last week. So far, good. FOB and App working fine. One Hiccup - a day after delivery got an airbag malfunction warning. Stopped by a service center and seems a connector on row 3 was loose, likely caused when opening and closing said seats to rehearse their functionality.(Should not happen). They fixed and cleared the issue in minutes and were very friendlyy. Also coming from a loaded iX. Would have stayed in iX pending release of the new X5i electric likely in 2027 , but it has been discontinued and could not find an iX equipped the way I wanted. So I leased the Gravity for 2 years. Stuff I miss from iX so far, ability to turn off REGEN completely as a default. Ability to program a path into my parking space (worked flawlessly in the iX). Being able to swipe under the trunk with my foot and open and close. I did not get the grand, so it lacks homelink, and they will have me wait 2 weeks to get it installed (a simple garage opener function), ability to have favorites in a group among several audio sources (xm, fm. etc). A nicer HUD. In addition to the $350 homelink,, the truck cover, shades for the roof that I deem necessary, the gap filling when 3rd row seats are closed, are all extra and some unavailable I am sure I will discover Gravity functions that will exceed those of the iX in time.
 
Get in, put the car in Sprint mode, shift into D, step on accelerator firmly....you'll forget all about your iX in no time!
 
It's funny how this discussion went from inventory count to a totally different topic.🤣😂
 
Last edited:
Haha, that's what this forum is for!

Be careful, they are forum (MP) here...🤣
 
papiDR said:
It's funny how this discussion went from inventory count to a totally different topic.🤣😂
Click to expand...
Want a fun and educational way to loop this back to a financials discussion in another thread... In Lucid's recent quarterly earnings, they report $1.379B in inventory. If an average car is around $100,000, then that could equate to around 13,790 cars in inventory. If Lucid has 64 showrooms, then that is around 215 cars per showroom location. Does that sound about right? (They probably have a fair amount of inventory staged at and near the factory, so likely fewer cars per showroom. And some of that inventory is materials or unfinished cars. But still.)
 
exxxviii said:
Want a fun and educational way to loop this back to a financials discussion in another thread... In Lucid's recent quarterly earnings, they report $1.379B in inventory. If an average car is around $100,000, then that could equate to around 13,790 cars in inventory. If Lucid has 64 showrooms, then that is around 215 cars per showroom location. Does that sound about right? (They probably have a fair amount of inventory staged at and near the factory, so likely fewer cars per showroom. And some of that inventory is materials or unfinished cars. But still.)
Click to expand...
That does not sound right. If you calculate the total production minus deliveries since 2021 you get 9253 undelivered or inventory cars. Most likely less because some of those were likely written off as inventory impairment. Inventory also includes production materials and work in progress so the value completed car inventory is much less than $1.379B.
 
Adnillien said:
That does not sound right. If you calculate the total production minus deliveries since 2021 you get 9253 undelivered or inventory cars. Most likely less because some of those were likely written off as inventory impairment. Inventory also includes production materials and work in progress so the value completed car inventory is much less than $1.379B.
Click to expand...
I noted that Inventory could include incoming materials and partially completed cars. Further, I just used $100,000 as the average price of a car, but I have no clue what the value Lucid uses for unsold inventory. Your numbers actually reconcile with mine, because I did a very high-level calculation and noted the unknowns. To me, that sound about right, but certainly not precisely right. So does yours.
 
Adnillien said:
That does not sound right. If you calculate the total production minus deliveries since 2021 you get 9253 undelivered or inventory cars. Most likely less because some of those were likely written off as inventory impairment. Inventory also includes production materials and work in progress so the value completed car inventory is much less than $1.379B.
Click to expand...
The 1.4B is a cash flow gap they found they could cut, not total in inventory, that included many other spending. Probably about 600mm based on a 300mm impairment and 1500 units gap in deliveries vs production...
 
illopp00 said:
The 1.4B is a cash flow gap they found they could cut, not total in inventory, that included many other spending. Probably about 600mm based on a 300mm impairment and 1500 units gap in deliveries vs production...
Click to expand...
They have 2 different numbers on their quarterly financials that are coincidentally the same value... Free Cash Flow is -$1.4B, and inventory is also $1.4B. But they are entirely unrelated.
 
exxxviii said:
I noted that Inventory could include incoming materials and partially completed cars. Further, I just used $100,000 as the average price of a car, but I have no clue what the value Lucid uses for unsold inventory. Your numbers actually reconcile with mine, because I did a very high-level calculation and noted the unknowns. To me, that sound about right, but certainly not precisely right. So does yours.
Click to expand...
Makes sense. Their COGS for the finished cars is probably around $200k, but an avg of $100k would account for parts and unfinished vehicles.
 
mfdutra said:
Also coming from an iX. The Gravity humiliates the iX in practicality, packaging, handling, etc.

The iX humiliates the Gravity in reliability and serviceability. It never even crossed my mind that pressing a fob button to open the trunk and the trunk wouldn't open for 30 seconds. Everything just works. Every. Single. Time.
Click to expand...
I'm 2.5 years into my iX lease. I was in LA over Christmas and test drove a Gravity. The ride was amazing. In hindsight, it might be because I'd been driving my friend's Model S for a few days. After about a week of that, I drove his iX and it was noticeably better than the Tesla. Regardless, I'm seriously considering getting one at the end of the year when (hopefully) there will be some year-end lease deals. I think last year there were $700-800/month deals on well-spec'd Gravities, so my fingers are crossed.
 
tmichael said:
Sorry to be nosy, but if you are comfortable enough to make the move to a Gravity, why don't you place an order now? Do you always buy off the lot or want to first drive the car you actually get? Truly, just curious. With that amount of time until you take the plunge, why not order now and get a vehicle exactly as you want with a later build date?

I'm always interested in what makes someone pull the trigger and whether one cares if a car is exactly what they want or close enough to what they want.

Again, apologize for seeming nosy. ☺️. There is no "right" answer.
Click to expand...
I'd like to have the chance to drive a vehicle with the HUD, and see if I want the tech package or not. When I was test driving before, they never had a car with the HUD available. And I'm spending pretty much all of August traveling, so won't have a chance until next month to see if they can get me behind the wheel of something with the HUD. I know that the HUD's promised features aren't there yet, but I'd like to see how annoying I find the reflections, and also find out if I'm one of the people who finds it difficult to bring into focus, or finds it difficult to get a good seating position where I can see it.
 
exxxviii said:
These two posts kind of sum up what I think is the state of things... Expensive cars do have trouble finding buyers when they do not deliver the essentials in their category or primary purpose. That is what I am personally feeling, and I wonder if more buyers are like that. When the Gravity launched, it was a great electric car. But it was not great at simply being a car, especially an expensive luxury car. And therefore, it has been able to attract well-heeled enthusiast buyers who can both afford the car and are willing to tolerate the issues and quirks, but the Gravity needs to bridge to capture the prosperous buyers who want a great car, not just a great electric car.

I will be buying my 3rd electric vehicle this year. I have not had a service visit or software problem in a very long time. (In fact, I think my last and only electric vehicle software problem was about 2 years ago when an OTA broke automatic time setting in my car, but it was fixed in the next OTA.) Including my prior gas car, I don't think I have been to a dealer for unscheduled service in over 10 years. Ideally I would like to continue this track record with my next electric car purchase.

I want a great car, one that I can always depend on and have no drama in day-to-day use. And I want the sugar on top of a great car: a great electric car too. My current car is not a great electric car - it has so-so efficiency, so-so luxury, and packaging is horrible with little storage. But it is pretty good at driving, comfortable, has decent range, good passenger space, and all the technical goodies. In other words, it absolutely excels at being a car by doing what I want it to do perfectly every time.

I am not at a point in my electric vehicle ownership journey where I am willing to sacrifice everyday excellence for just being excellent at electric car stuff. And I suspect that there may be more people like me that have been taking a wait-and-see position on the Gravity because of stories of the issues. The 3.6.0 and 3.6.3 updates seemed to have been reformational for the Gravity, but there are a couple major gaps (PaaK and HUD) along with some remaining annoying defects and odd behaviors folks are posting about. I will not write a $120K check for a premium luxury vehicle without PaaK or functional HUD. I am hoping to see more progress before I have to make my purchase decision. I suspect I am not alone.
Click to expand...
In an odd way, the Gravity struggles from not being more expensive. If it was a Ferrari, with Ferrari pricing, people would accept that it's a finicky vehicle. Partly because no one buys a Ferrari for their daily driver. And most people buy it purely for themselves, and don't worry whether it's a vehicle their spouse would be comfortable driving. But partly because of its practicality in space for both passengers and cargo, the Gravity gets slotted into an entirely different space in people's minds: it's a family car. And a family car needs to be reliable, needs to not infuriate your spouse, and it can't require the valet to know how to reboot it before they can bring it back to you. The fact that it's also a super car doesn't matter, it needs to fulfill the family car expectations, at least for most people.
 
TahoeMichael said:
I'd like to have the chance to drive a vehicle with the HUD, and see if I want the tech package or not. When I was test driving before, they never had a car with the HUD available. And I'm spending pretty much all of August traveling, so won't have a chance until next month to see if they can get me behind the wheel of something with the HUD. I know that the HUD's promised features aren't there yet, but I'd like to see how annoying I find the reflections, and also find out if I'm one of the people who finds it difficult to bring into focus, or finds it difficult to get a good seating position where I can see it.
Click to expand...
Remember that polarized sunglasses kill the HUD.
 
TahoeMichael said:
I'd like to have the chance to drive a vehicle with the HUD, and see if I want the tech package or not. When I was test driving before, they never had a car with the HUD available. And I'm spending pretty much all of August traveling, so won't have a chance until next month to see if they can get me behind the wheel of something with the HUD. I know that the HUD's promised features aren't there yet, but I'd like to see how annoying I find the reflections, and also find out if I'm one of the people who finds it difficult to bring into focus, or finds it difficult to get a good seating position where I can see it.
Click to expand...
My experience after using it for almost 9 months:
I'm able to see it well after finding the appropriate seating position. One of the lasts OTAs pretty much eliminated the reflection for me. Do I find myself looking at it? Hardly ever...
I just returned a loaner and I realized it didn't have the HUD when I was about to return it.
The other 2 components of the Tech package are the outlets (useful, but you can get them as a stand alone package) and the ambient lighting (barely noticeable from the driver's position).
So, your assessment should be whether these features are worth an additional 2% to the car's price.
 
TahoeMichael said:
I'd like to have the chance to drive a vehicle with the HUD, and see if I want the tech package or not....
Click to expand...
I was in the same position and ordered my Gravity without the HUD. I can't say what it's like to use the HUD. But I can say that Gravity has been a great car even without it.
 
TahoeMichael said:
In an odd way, the Gravity struggles from not being more expensive. If it was a Ferrari, with Ferrari pricing, people would accept that it's a finicky vehicle. Partly because no one buys a Ferrari for their daily driver. And most people buy it purely for themselves, and don't worry whether it's a vehicle their spouse would be comfortable driving. But partly because of its practicality in space for both passengers and cargo, the Gravity gets slotted into an entirely different space in people's minds: it's a family car. And a family car needs to be reliable, needs to not infuriate your spouse, and it can't require the valet to know how to reboot it before they can bring it back to you. The fact that it's also a super car doesn't matter, it needs to fulfill the family car expectations, at least for most people.
Click to expand...
You don’t get much for the tech package, the ambient lighting is pretty…spartan. The HUD is bad.
 
I really like the HUD and missed it when I was driving a loner. And the ambient lighting is beautiful on the Yosemite seats
 
Unfortunately, for any vehicle that my wife is going to drive on a regular basis, a usable HUD is an absolute non-negotiable. I really hope Lucid has that figured out before her lease is up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top