First pre-production Gravity reviews are coming in

We finally got to test drive the Lucid Gravity which just nabbed an EPA range of 450 miles

It’s been a four-plus-year journey for Gravity – Lucid Motors’ second flagship SUV. Since it was first unveiled, I’ve followed...

electrek.co

 

[borski]

What makes me think you were never cool?

I don’t know but you’d be wrong

I went to circus school for two years and did win junior world magician when I was 15 so clearly I was cool

 

[xponents]

I went to circus school got two years and did win junior world magician when I was 15 so clearly I was cool

TIL that circus school is a thing... I feel like an idiot now

Junior world magician is insane! Do you still have those skills?

 

[borski]

TIL that circus school is a thing... I feel like an idiot now

Junior world magician is insane! Do you still have those skills?

Indeed. How do you think I found a woman who’d marry me? Once you saw them in half, they’re pretty much yours, or so I’m told.

 

[Leftlane]

Whoever suggested that maybe a design like the G Wagen would make more sense - turn in your efficiency card right now. That brick on wheels abomination is the polar opposite of what Lucid is doing. If you want a Cayenne or Urus or Range Rover you can get one now - no need for Lucid to offer yet another clone of what already exists. I think this design is so much better than the stale stuff out there already.

 

[AirDoll]

View attachment 25127

What in the grapekoolaidbatVANmobile hell is that?!

 

[hmp10]

I'm going to assume that you are not saying that I am "forcing" Gravity into the minivan mold, because I'm not.

Honestly, I was not sure what you were trying to say. You listed four categories that you suggested lent the Gravity the proportions of a minivan. Yet at least three of them really didn't, as minivans, station wagons, and SUVs can be found with each of those same characteristics. (I didn't know quite what to do with the dash-to-axle ratio, as many sedans going back to the cab-forward era of Chrysler design can be found with similar ratios, and no one is suggesting that made them minivans.)

What I am saying is that there are a sufficient number of people (in the Gravity's target market) who seem to have expressed this opinion, who are very much worth hearing out, and whose thinking I am trying to understand and respond to.

I guess I worry about this because so much perception of vehicles (and everything else) these days arises from social media instead of more traditional advertising and serious automotive journalism (what there is left of it). And social media discourse about Lucid is replete with what looks like "packaged" attacks on the company and its products (think bot farms and internet channels here, funded by people with agendas). With the Air it's been the "every car costs them $700k to produce" nonsense and the "bankruptcy is looming" drumbeat. With the Gravity it's rapidly becoming the "it's really an over-priced minivan" claims.

It makes me question how much of the proliferating comments on the internet about the Gravity's really being a minivan are expressions of real opinions or thinly-veiled attacks on the Lucid brand.

That's why when I hear someone say "it's really a minivan", I kinda wanna see what objective factors they bring to the discussion and whether those factors hold up to examination.

 

[Bobby]

The Kia Carnival is a great car! A shame your wife thinks it looks like a minivan, I had assumed that the lack of sliding doors would somewhat get her (and other people like that) to not call it a minivan. What are you considering instead of the Gravity?

We bought an X5 50e.

 

[drmaverick]

Whoever suggested that maybe a design like the G Wagen would make more sense - turn in your efficiency card right now. That brick on wheels abomination is the polar opposite of what Lucid is doing. If you want a Cayenne or Urus or Range Rover you can get one now - no need for Lucid to offer yet another clone of what already exists. I think this design is so much better than the stale stuff out there already.

I get the efficiency part but tbh I don’t think efficiency is at the top of considerations for anyone spending this kind of money. The reason aforementioned cars sell at those price points despite their obvious shortcomings is because they’re perceived as desirable. At the end of the day Lucid is a business who’s goal is to make money for it’s investors and if they hope to sell this in in any significant numbers, they need the Gravity to not be perceived as an overpriced minivan. Bottom line no matter how good or bad a product really is, perception is everything.

I’m rooting for this to succeed as much as anyone else here but I am only expressing the opinions of some of the exact same individuals Lucid is trying to target. Families interested in a minivan like product are not going to spend this kind of money when they have far cheaper and excellent options available that have been around for decades.

 

[AirQuality]

Honestly, I was not sure what you were trying to say. You listed four categories that you suggested lent the Gravity the proportions of a minivan. Yet at least three of them really didn't, as minivans, station wagons, and SUVs can be found with each of those same characteristics. (I didn't know quite what to do with the dash-to-axle ratio, as many sedans going back to the cab-forward era of Chrysler design can be found with similar ratios, and no one is suggesting that made them minivans.)

I was saying that, in totality, those four categories are common between the Gravity and minivans, and that they subtly influence people's perceptions. Objectively, that does not make the Gravity a minivan any more than the presence of opposable thumbs makes a human a monkey. There are certainly exceptions for each of the categories taken individually, as you rightly pointed out.

It makes me question how much of the proliferating comments on the internet about the Gravity's really being a minivan are expressions of real opinions or thinly-veiled attacks on the Lucid brand.

I agree with this. The "losing $700k per car" arguments are dumb. But there are some very real (early) perceptions around Gravity -- and purchasing decisions made based on those perceptions -- among at least a small set of "real people", including Lucid owners right here. Getting ahead of those perceptions before they take root in a more widespread manner is what a true innovator like Lucid will have to deal with. Apple dealt with it when they released iPhone without a keyboard (e.g., the infamous Steve Ballmer comments); they dealt with the "giant iPhone" criticisms when the iPad was released. No one cares about or even remembers those anymore. Lucid has the opportunity to address similar concerns and change the narrative right now, just like Apple did 15 years ago.

In any event, I look forward to a wide swath of the market buying the Gravity because they love it and/or think it's cool. The fact that it's also (probably) objectively the best vehicle ever made at this price point is just the cherry on top.

 

[Blue Lectroid]

The funny thing is the general public doesn't care or even notice any of these vehicles. No one notices if you are driving a Mercedes GLS or a Toyota Sienna. Most who buy "true SUVs" never take them off-road. I see more minivans when camping than Land Cruisers or Defenders.

I love the look of my Lucid Air, but it really doesn't get any attention. It's just another sedan to most people. I pick up my kids at school regularly in the Air, and no one notices. I recently purchased a new BMW M2 and drove it the other day and it got tons of attention from the high school kids. My son's friends love it because it's something they dream of owning, not the Lucid. No one dreams of owning a luxury sedan or SUV outside of a rare vehicle like a G-wagon.

Lucid could have made the Gravity a boxy, super aggressive looking SUV and it would still just be another SUV.

I respectfully completely disagree.

 

[Blue Lectroid]

My gut feeling, once the car is out and we drive it will have a new name ( other than suv and minivan) defying all the norms.

How about “Maxicar”?

 

[hmp10]

I get the efficiency part but tbh I don’t think efficiency is at the top of considerations for anyone spending this kind of money. The reason aforementioned cars sell at those price points despite their obvious shortcomings is because they’re perceived as desirable. At the end of the day Lucid is a business who’s goal is to make money for it’s investors and if they hope to sell this in in any significant numbers, they need the Gravity to not be perceived as an overpriced minivan. Bottom line no matter how good or bad a product really is, perception is everything.

I’m rooting for this to succeed as much as anyone else here but I am only expressing the opinions of some of the exact same individuals Lucid is trying to target. Families interested in a minivan like product are not going to spend this kind of money when they have far cheaper and excellent options available that have been around for decades.

I agree with this. The "losing $700k per car" arguments are dumb. But there are some very real (early) perceptions around Gravity -- and purchasing decisions made based on those perceptions -- among at least a small set of "real people", including Lucid owners right here. Getting ahead of those perceptions before they take root in a more widespread manner is what a true innovator like Lucid will have to deal with. Apple dealt with it when they released iPhone without a keyboard (e.g., the infamous Steve Ballmer comments); they dealt with the "giant iPhone" criticisms when the iPad was released. No one cares about or even remembers those anymore. Lucid has the opportunity to address similar concerns and change the narrative right now, just like Apple did 15 years ago.

I think these two posts taken together very aptly describe the situation Lucid is up against and what they have to try to do to address it.

Can you imagine what Lucid drivetrain and chassis engineers and Derek Jenkins and his design team must think of all this "it's a minivan" talk?

They have built a vehicle with almost three times the power of the most powerful minivan and almost 100 horsepower more than the most powerful SUV (the BMW XM).

They have built a vehicle that even Jason Cammisa says can render the sports car category obsolete in terms of road dynamics.

They have built a vehicle with more passenger room than a Chevy Suburban, GM's largest SUV, and packed it into a vehicle shorter than an Explorer, the smallest of Ford's triad of full-size SUVs.

They forewent the very convenience feature that almost universally defines a minivan: sliding rear doors.

They have targeted the vehicle category with the largest U.S. market -- the SUV . . . but they have wound up with a crescendo of claims that it has landed in the smallest vehicle category in the U.S. market -- the minivan.

Why? Because of the tendency of people to latch onto a single trait or two that catches their attention and, on that basis, consign an entire complex thing into the simplest familiar slot that comes to mind.

Let's took at the term "SUV".

First comes "Sport".

The "S" stands for sport. But I don't really know what "sport" means for most conventional SUVs. They often handle like pigs, so it's not about the sport of driving. Except for a very few (Rivian, some Range Rovers, the Mercedes G class), most never see heavy off-road duty, so they're not all that much about the sport of outdoor adventure. What they are often used for is hauling a bunch kids to events and places, but that's not actually a sport. Ironically, the vehicle best suited for the kids is a minivan, which is why they became associated with the term "soccer moms".

In fact, if you consider the sport of driving, the Gravity is one of the "sportiest" vehicles of the SUV category.

Next comes "Utility".

With a cargo capacity exceeded only by the behemoths of the GM Suburban class and the Ford Excursion class, it is clearly a utility vehicle.

Finally comes "Vehicle".

I think everyone can agree that the Gravity is a vehicle.

Yet where are we? Amidst a growing cacophony of claims here and elsewhere that the Gravity is not an SUV, but a minivan.

As @AirQuality says, the situation Lucid is up against is very much like what Apple was up against with its early groundbreaking products. I can only hope the posts on this forum -- which often get picked up in wider social media -- assist with Lucid's task instead of hinder it.

 

[Blue Lectroid]

I think these two posts taken together very aptly describe the situation Lucid is up against and what they have to try to do to address it.

Can you imagine what Lucid drivetrain and chassis engineers and Derek Jenkins and his design team must think of all this "it's a minivan" talk?

They have built a vehicle with almost three times the power of the most powerful minivan and almost 100 horsepower more than the most powerful SUV (the BMW XM).

They have built a vehicle that even Jason Cammisa says can render the sports car category obsolete in terms of road dynamics.

They have built a vehicle with more passenger room than a Chevy Suburban, GM's largest SUV, and packed it into a vehicle shorter than an Explorer, the smallest of Ford's triad of full-size SUVs.

They forewent the very convenience feature that almost universally defines a minivan: sliding rear doors.

They have targeted the vehicle category with the largest U.S. market -- the SUV . . . but they have wound up with a crescendo of claims that it has landed in the smallest vehicle category in the U.S. market -- the minivan.

Why? Because of the tendency of people to latch onto a single trait or two that catches their attention and, on that basis, consign an entire complex thing into the simplest familiar slot that comes to mind.

Let's took at the term "SUV".

First comes "Sport".

The "S" stands for sport. But I don't really know what "sport" means for most conventional SUVs. They often handle like pigs, so it's not about the sport of driving. Except for a very few (Rivian, some Range Rovers, the Mercedes G class), most never see heavy off-road duty, so they're not all that much about the sport of outdoor adventure. What they are often used for is hauling a bunch kids to events and places, but that's not actually a sport. Ironically, the vehicle best suited for the kids is a minivan, which is why they became associated with the term "soccer moms".

In fact, if you consider the sport of driving, the Gravity is one of the "sportiest" vehicles of the SUV category.

Next comes "Utility".

With a cargo capacity exceeded only by the behemoths of the GM Suburban class and the Ford Excursion class, it is clearly a utility vehicle.

Finally comes "Vehicle".

I think everyone can agree that the Gravity is a vehicle.

Yet where are we? Amidst a growing cacophony of claims here and elsewhere that the Gravity is not an SUV, but a minivan.

As @AirQuality says, the situation Lucid is up against is very much like what Apple was up against with its early groundbreaking products. I can only hope the posts on this forum -- which often get picked up in wider social media -- assist with Lucid's task instead of hinder it.

Great post!

This insanity about naming what Gravity is, however, is a tempest in a teapot IMHO. If for some reason the minivan thing does start to take hold in a negative way, one lifestyle commercial of someone in the target audience saying to their spouse, “honey, I’ll take the minivan today,” with a mischievous look on their face and then flashing to them absolutely screaming through some mountain roads with pictures of the Gravity looking gorgeous, fast and like it’s having the heck driven out of it should dispel that nonsense. Final taglines of the ad could flash on screen sequentially…

Minivan? Hah!
SUV? Nope.
Something entirely different.
Lucid.
Compromise Nothing

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

I thought the "Sport" part referred to the driver = she drives it OFF THE ROAD to get to the trail head or on state game lands to hunt, to the campsite, in deep snow to get to the snow-sports places, or for the construction worker to get to the jobsite with all it's chaos and various surfaces to navigate. It's for the owner to facilitate access to sport, or a rough work environment, not for motorsport. A Miata is for motorsport. One of Kyle's "best car in the world" Porsches, are for motorsport. I knew that hell was freezing over when Porsche introduced the Cayanne.

Yet I see so many SUVs that are used mostly by a single driver to commute to work on the highways. I scanned the grocery store parking lot and it's mostly SUVs, two of which backed out without looking and almost hit me...would have had I not stopped. I am terrified of them.

As for "family" cars: There's a pre-school across the street where a mom in a behemoth SUV dropped her kid and promptly backed over him with predictable result. Teachers were standing there helping unload and direct the children...but couldn't see = these things are huge. Everyone at the school witnessed the tragic result.

I can't see any other reason to buy these things than ego = owners want to be "High and Mighty". It makes them feel privileges and superior = they don't have to follow the rules car drivers observe.

However, Americans (just got back from 12 days in Europe = can't remember seeing a SUV) are not giving up their SUVs. It makes sense to get an expensive ELECTRIC SUV then, because anyone holding on to an ICE SUV is going to regret it, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of their lives.
Electric vehicles will last much longer than ICE vehicles. The initial higher cost should be amortized over a longer time = making EVs a more economical choice in the long run.
Nobody will want and ICE SUV. You won't be able to sell / trade your abomination. Get rid of it whilst you can. Get an "Estate" (station wagon) EV. Oh, nobody wants a wagon = they are not cool.

not cool E63S V8 bi-turbo ICE car which is killer on the track = a motor-sport family wagon. Great visibility for everyone in and out. Now if Lucid would make a sensible wagon, I'm all in.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Wow, I'm sure the opinion of numerous 15 year olds with no money to buy any car, let alone the Gravity, matters! Hey, wait a second, something here is familiar...

It’s ok, you’re a car enthusiast, there’s no rule to exclude you from posting as you aren’t trolling people and aren’t speaking as someone with driving experience.

I don’t know but you’d be wrong

I went to circus school for two years and did win junior world magician when I was 15 so clearly I was cool

Ah yeah I’d forgotten you mentioned you knew Derek Delgaudio, that show of his In and Of Itself is still the coolest non-musical stage performance I’ve ever seen.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

How many of you who are saying Gravity looks like a Minivan have seen a Gravity in person? I have, it doesn’t look like a Minivan. Maybe it doesn’t photograph well but in person it doesn’t look like one. YouTubers say all sorts of nonsense to get clicks.

 

[Blue Lectroid]

I see so many SUVs that are used mostly by a single driver to commute to work on the highways. I scanned the grocery store parking lot and it's mostly SUVs, two of which backed out without looking and almost hit me...would have had I not stopped. I am terrified of them.

My wife and I own and operate a Farm. We are replacing our Tesla M3P with a Lucid air and we JUST 18 months ago replaced our 2016 Volt with an Ioniq 5 because we we needed a bit more trunk capacity for hauling things like soil, grain seed, plants, etc.

Once or twice a YEAR we rent a pickup truck when we need to make large pickups or deliveries. We specifically do not own our own pickup truck because the other 360+ days of the year we’d be hauling around a hugely inefficient behemoth for no reason.

If we can run a commercial farm (www.coldbrookfarmnj.com) with these kinds of vehicles, I’m pretty darn sure that the vast majority of SUVs and pickup trucks are purchased by folks who have zero real world need for them and as an environmentalist, that’s a shame.

The Gravity is an amazing vehicle and in another several years we will replace our Ioniq 5 with it and, in so doing IMPROVE our overall transportation efficiency.

That said, in the Lucid world, if you really need a Gravity — for its space and utility — by all means, get one! But if you’re never going to need the extra cargo space? Please, do our planet a favor and get an Air. Driving even the most efficient SUV on the planet when you really only need a car is still wasteful.

 

[hmp10]

How many of you who are saying Gravity looks like a Minivan have seen a Gravity in person? I have, it doesn’t look like a Minivan. Maybe it doesn’t photograph well but in person it doesn’t look like one. YouTubers say all sorts of nonsense to get clicks.

Amen. As someone who's driven a Honda Odyssey for the past 13 years and has seen the Gravity in person 3 times, I can tell you with certainty . . . it don't look like no minivan.

 

[hmp10]

Great post!

This insanity about naming what Gravity is, however, is a tempest in a teapot IMHO.

I so hope you're right. But I was a little taken aback when a moderator on this forum and a huge and deeply-informed Lucid fan had to take a pass on a Gravity he wanted because his wife insisted it was too much like a minivan. That worries me.

 

[hmp10]

That said, in the Lucid world, if you really need a Gravity — for its space and utility — by all means, get one! But if you’re never going to need the extra cargo space? Please, do our planet a favor and get an Air. Driving even the most efficient SUV on the planet when you really only need a car is still wasteful.

We keep a minivan because we often need passenger capacity for six adults, and a minivan was the most fuel-efficient way to get that capacity (and, with the Honda Odyssey, actually handled better than most large SUVs). As I've posted several times on this forum after owning an Air, my dream car had become an Odyssey on a Lucid platform.

I can't exaggerate the grins and giggles I've had since seeing the Gravity in person and reading the test drive reviews two days ago. Something better than my dream car has come true -- one that does everything I need the Odyssey for but is way more high-performance sports car than minivan.