We've all been saying "orphan" but I'm not sure that's exactly the right analogous word to use. Orphan implies that they built it to the spec of a pre-existing order and the holder of that order decided they didn't want it. But based on the number of these so-called-orphans we're seeing, I can't imagine that this is really what's going on.
I suspect that Lucid is building the cars they can build: Colors that are production-ready, in the highest trim specs they don't have supply chain constraints on - and then letting existing order holders race to snap them up while the demand outstrips their supply capacity and people are willing to settle for any Gravity they can get their hands on. I'm just not seeing a whole bunch of older order holders having their orders fulfilled one by one.
I have no idea why they would do it this way, because I think it frustrates people who have had long order waits. They could say to the older order holders "we can schedule your build but you will have to settle for not having X and Y if you want it" and use a process like that to knock people off the list, but based on the fact that I've had two orders for a long time and not received any of those calls, nor has anyone else I have heard of on the forum, I don't think they're doing that. It appears to be a "push" strategy, not a "build to order" one. Admittedly this proposed process would likely take more SA effort.
But I just don't know what logic is being used to make these builds. I guess, as long as nothing gets too "orphaned," it's a successful strategy while the order backlog is high and people are willing to settle. But it comes at an emotional cost.
I don't know what word is better than orphan - maybe "push cars?"
But what do I know?