Air 2~5 months Waiting Game

[northernstar]

I was asked to swap from Santa Cruz to Tahoe which was available in inventory -- I chose to wait. And the massaging seats weren't even an option on Touring or Pure when I ordered. Given my well known and quite vocal position on the lack of even having this option or a retrofit option for Touring OG's, you'll get no sympathetic ear from me or likely any other OG Touring owners. These are truly first world problems. You want the massaging seats, wait for the car.

I'm not asking for any sympathy. I know what I want and am willing to wait for it.
I'm just baffled by Lucid's "ordering" process, which doesn't seem to have a clear indication of when it can be submitted/planned/scheduled to build.

 

[northernstar]

Yes. Or to satisfy customers who don't care that much.

No.

I don't know the state of the factory right now. It's there, it exists, but I imagine some things are in a transition period right now as more processes are moved into the new(ly expanded) factory. That might be a holdup right now. Just a guess. You're not going to be waiting 2 years like some people have said, that was Lucid's initial spinup time mid-pandemic. I can't imagine you won't get the car you want this year.

With all the factory expansion videos and announcements... and reducing the production #s for 2024... I figured Lucid would be more nimble/faster to put the ordered spec into the factory system... Maybe I assumed too much.

 

[svoelpel]

So... It's almost been a month, and

1. I've been getting inquiries from the sales advisor to see if I'd be interested in getting existing inventories that closely match color/options but not at 100%
2. It doesn't seem like they have a method of adding/processing my specific build into the factory

It seems like a waiting game at this point.... hoping that the factory randomly matches and produces the build that I'd like to have at some point.

Was the custom-order experience only for the Dream Edition customers for Lucid?

Three weeks ago I hit the buy button on a Phantom Blue air pure "inventory" car supposedly available in two weeks. An hour later got a call from Tysons (DC) asking if I would take one of 3 colors they had in stock they would drop the price $3000. One of the colors was white which was one of my favorites. So took the white, flew to DC, and drove it home to North Carolina. It is my 9th EV. Love it, love it, Love it.

 

[northernstar]

Three weeks ago I hit the buy button on a Phantom Blue air pure "inventory" car supposedly available in two weeks. An hour later got a call from Tysons (DC) asking if I would take one of 3 colors they had in stock they would drop the price $3000. One of the colors was white which was one of my favorites. So took the white, flew to DC, and drove it home to North Carolina. It is my 9th EV. Love it, love it, Love it.

Congrats on finding the vehicle of your dreams.
Yes... There are ongoing "on-site" $3k discounts for existing inventories. (GT trim level if I remember correctly)
Btw, it's "Fathom Blue".

 

[hmp10]

Things do seem to be a bit odd about the sales/ordering process right now.

When we were at the Miami studio almost two weeks ago to look at the Gravity, one of the friends I took along has begun to consider an Air to replace his Lexus ES350. He has ridden in our Dream Edition quite a few times but wanted to check out the difference in the rear leg position with the smaller battery pack. The only Air they had in the showroom was a Pure, which fit the bill nicely. When we walked up to it and the door handles didn't extend, I turned to the the salesperson who told us the car had been sold and could not be opened. And with the car's tinted windows and its Mojave interior in the softly-lit showroom, you couldn't even see the floorboards in the car.

I found it odd that a company struggling with sales and big inventory pile-ups would not have a car available in its showroom for customers to open up and sit in.

Also, the display wall that showed the Air models was still showing the specs and wheels for a Grand Touring Performance. I asked the sales person if the GTP was again available, but he said they had not updated the display.

I don't know if this is a symptom of belt tightening or what, but it seems a bit off to run a very glitzy showroom with outdated displays and vehicles that cannot be opened up. It doesn't exactly convey a sense of a company at the top of its game.

One of the things I so like about Lucid is the emphasis it puts on engineering above marketing -- the opposite of the approach that has produced some of the miserable American iron of the past few decades. But I'm beginning to appreciate the risk pushing it too far entails.

 

[svoelpel]

Congrats on finding the vehicle of your dreams.
Yes... There are ongoing "on-site" $3k discounts for existing inventories. (GT trim level if I remember correctly)
Btw, it's "Fathom Blue".

I knew my spelling didn't looked odd but was too lazy too double check it

 

[northernstar]

Things do seem to be a bit odd about the sales/ordering process right now.

When we were at the Miami studio almost two weeks ago to look at the Gravity, one of the friends I took along has begun to consider an Air to replace his Lexus ES350. He has ridden in our Dream Edition quite a few times but wanted to check out the difference in the rear leg position with the smaller battery pack. The only Air they had in the showroom was a Pure, which fit the bill nicely. When we walked up to it and the door handles didn't extend, I turned to the the salesperson who told us the car had been sold and could not be opened. And with the car's tinted windows and its Mojave interior in the softly-lit showroom, you couldn't even see the floorboards in the car.

I found it odd that a company struggling with sales and big inventory pile-ups would not have a car available in its showroom for customers to open up and sit in.

Also, the display wall that showed the Air models was still showing the specs and wheels for a Grand Touring Performance. I asked the sales person if the GTP was again available, but he said they had not updated the display.

I don't know if this is a symptom of belt tightening or what, but it seems a bit off to run a very glitzy showroom with outdated displays and vehicles that cannot be opened up. It doesn't exactly convey a sense of a company at the top of its game.

One of the things I so like about Lucid is the emphasis it puts on engineering above marketing -- the opposite of the approach that has produced some of the miserable American iron of the past few decades. But I'm beginning to appreciate the risk pushing it too far entails.

Thanks for sharing your experience & thoughts.

• Highly doubt they sold the vehicle in the display... probably the vehicle was broken, and covered it up + with excuses
  San Diego, CA in-store vehicles were wide-open to try all the features.... except driving. lol
  
  
• 99% of the time I'll be driving Air by myself... the backseat's battery wasn't a concern for me...
  But I just found out that the Touring and Grand Touring insurance quotes weren't that different...
  I might consider giving up Fathom Blue and going for GT...
  Another test drive and see if the rear seat's battery pack makes that much of difference in terms of seating comfort
  
  
• I don't recall the service advisor or assistant talking about GT VS GTP...
  I'll be asking about it for sure.
  
  
• Between El*n M and Peter R, I'll trust Peter over E for sure.
  But yea... this current "Order" system is... not what I expected...

 

[Sandvinsd]

I had to wait 6 months for my car configuration to be delivered. It was worth the wait!

 

[Bobby]

Thanks for sharing your experience & thoughts.

• Highly doubt they sold the vehicle in the display... probably the vehicle was broken, and covered it up + with excuses
  San Diego, CA in-store vehicles were wide-open to try all the features.... except driving. lol
  
  
• 99% of the time I'll be driving Air by myself... the backseat's battery wasn't a concern for me...
  But I just found out that the Touring and Grand Touring insurance quotes weren't that different...
  I might consider giving up Fathom Blue and going for GT...
  Another test drive and see if the rear seat's battery pack makes that much of difference in terms of seating comfort
  
  
• I don't recall the service advisor or assistant talking about GT VS GTP...
  I'll be asking about it for sure.
  
  
• Between El*n M and Peter R, I'll trust Peter over E for sure.
  But yea... this current "Order" system is... not what I expected...

GTP is no longer offered.

 

[northernstar]

Update: March 27th 2024.

Spoke with another sales advisor;

- No more custom order-to-build at the moment. They are now batch-processing the vehicles based on the popular colors and options of requested orders
- Two Grand Tour Performance vehicles are still available; One is in California, and the other is in Florida. Discontinued with the Sapphire trim.

Spoke with my insurance company about the T VS GT insurance quote;
- It doesn't seem like there's much difference between the Touring and the Grand Touring... at least with my Insurance Company with a rough estimate quote
- They did say it will have to go through the underwriting process since it's a "special" vehicle.

Didn't consider GT as I thought it was an overkill... but I might consider after all / Give up fathom blue/stealth.

 

[hmp10]

Discontinued with the Sapphire trim.

?

 

[xponents]

?

It was likely that the GT-P was discontinued to make space for the Sapphire, which is what I think he was trying to say.

 

[Neurio]

?

I assume he means the GTP was discontinued when Lucid started producing the Sapphire.

 

[no gas]

I'm willing to wait. I waited for the Audi S5 for 5 months before building it to my specifications.
The difference is that the Audi dealer submitted my order to the factory in Ingolstadt, Germany, and provided me with the status after making the deposit.
In contrast, the Lucid sales advisor is continuously "offering" alternative inventories, and my order # has just been sitting somewhere and has not been moved for the past month.

I just hope the ordered specification goes into the factory for the actual building at some point.
It just feels like a sales tactic to move the existing inventories rather than being willing to honor the order.

Dude, Lucid is not Audi, it’s a brand new car company….

Thanks for sharing your experience & thoughts.

• Highly doubt they sold the vehicle in the display... probably the vehicle was broken, and covered it up + with excuses
  San Diego, CA in-store vehicles were wide-open to try all the features.... except driving. lol
  
  
• 99% of the time I'll be driving Air by myself... the backseat's battery wasn't a concern for me...
  But I just found out that the Touring and Grand Touring insurance quotes weren't that different...
  I might consider giving up Fathom Blue and going for GT...
  Another test drive and see if the rear seat's battery pack makes that much of difference in terms of seating comfort
  
  
• I don't recall the service advisor or assistant talking about GT VS GTP...
  I'll be asking about it for sure.
  
  
• Between El*n M and Peter R, I'll trust Peter over E for sure.
  But yea... this current "Order" system is... not what I expected...

You can’t blame Lucid for trying to get inventory cars sold over made to order…..that’s not how economics of running a company works…., now if they had great demand, low inventory, I understand. But present EV downturn means Lucid has to do this to survive. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth waiting to get the spec you desire.

 

[Leftlane]

Simple solution then is to just not allow any custom orders until the inventory is depleted more. You can’t have it both ways - allow specific ordering but then not build it - and use the excuse that Lucid is a new car company so that makes it okay.

 

[northernstar]

Dude, Lucid is not Audi, it’s a brand new car company….

You can’t blame Lucid for trying to get inventory cars sold over made to order…..that’s not how economics of running a company works…., now if they had great demand, low inventory, I understand. But present EV downturn means Lucid has to do this to survive. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth waiting to get the spec you desire.

I'm not blaming Lucid. I wish they had more transparency/information regarding the "Order" process.

As I found out today, technically, they are honoring the order. It would have been nice had they informed me in the first place that they were gathering enough similar options/trims and trying to batch process for production/cost efficiency - the reason why it might take 2~5 months.

 

[northernstar]

Simple solution then is to just not allow any custom orders until the inventory is depleted more. You can’t have it both ways - allow specific ordering but then not build it - and use the excuse that Lucid is a new car company so that makes it okay.

I even offered them "make it non-refundable, and I'll deposit more". The service advisor said no. lol

 

[Amster]

Update: March 27th 2024.

Didn't consider GT as I thought it was an overkill... but I might consider after all / Give up fathom blue/stealth.

I thought the GT was overkill too, although I can't say I mind having it. What tipped the scale for me was the extra range.

 

[northernstar]

I thought the GT was overkill too, although I can't say I mind having it. What tipped the scale for me was the extra range.

• Suppose the 'real world' ~400 (Grand Touring) range is better than ~300 (Touring) in terms of the "range anxiety"... still, both are far superior compared to other carmakers with similar battery systems
• I'll have to stop by the store again and see if the GT's backseat with extra battery is really a big deal in terms of a seating ergonomic position.
• Goodbye, Fathom Blue. (what I ordered) Hello, Cosmos Silver/Quantum Grey (What's available)

 

[Amster]

• Suppose the 'real world' ~400 (Grand Touring) range is better than ~300 (Touring) in terms of the "range anxiety"... still, both are far superior compared to other carmakers with similar battery systems
• I'll have to stop by the store again and see if the GT's backseat with extra battery is really a big deal in terms of a seating ergonomic position.
• Goodbye, Fathom Blue. (what I ordered) Hello, Cosmos Silver/Quantum Grey (What's available)

This is my first EV. My last car was a Honda Clarity, a PHEV with a 47 mile battery. The 'real world' range on it was 40 when it was new. Three and a half years later, it was 33. I'm planning on keeping this car for a long time. I'm hoping that the Air battery doesn't degrade that quickly, but it obviously will degrade some. So I figured it was best to start with the highest number possible.