Gravity Orders Discussion

5:24AM PST

So you and @hydbob were up to place your orders before dawn? Boy, that's dedication.

Just how early ahead of the announced time (8:00 a.m. PST) did Lucid open orders? I'm curious why Lucid would announce a specific time for opening orders and then open them hours earlier? Why not just say "orders open on November 7"?

it's not a big deal in terms of whether an order gets placed a few hours earlier or later, but I'm not sure it's a good look from a PR perspective to widely publicize a specific time for such an event and then ignore it.

Again, Lucid's marketing strategy is a deepening mystery to me.
 
So you and @hydbob were up to place your orders before dawn? Boy, that's dedication.

Just how early ahead of the announced time (8:00 a.m. PST) did Lucid open orders? I'm curious why Lucid would announce a specific time for opening orders and then open them hours earlier? Why not just say "orders open on November 7"?

it's not a big deal in terms of whether an order gets placed a few hours earlier or later, but I'm not sure it's a good look from a PR perspective to widely publicize a specific time for such an event and then ignore it.

Again, Lucid's marketing strategy is a deepening mystery to me.
I'm up at 5 am pst everyday. My order got placed at 5:16 🤣
 
I'm up at 5 am pst everyday. My order got placed at 5:16 🤣
Is that when you got the email confirmation of order? If so…that’s the earliest of anyone I polled.
 
I'm up at 5 am pst everyday. My order got placed at 5:16 🤣

Do you have any idea when the order activator actually went live?

I ask this because I'm trying to figure out where this fits in the pattern I've seen that indicates Lucid Marketing may operate rather independently of the rest of the organization with no sense of a need to communicate to the sales force.

Here are some examples:

A few months ago I got an email inviting me to a "special viewing" of the Gravity at the West Palm Beach Design Studio on a given date with a given 4-hour time window. To West Palm Beach and back is a full-day outing for us, so we rearranged our calendars to make it. Shortly before we left, I called the Studio to confirm the car had arrived and the event was still on. The salesperson was confused by my request. She said the car had been on the showroom floor since the day before, and anyone coming in could see it. She said she knew nothing about a special showing. When we arrived shortly after the scheduled start shown on our invitation, we saw no sign of anything special going on. However, a few minutes later a couple of people carrying trays of food marched out from the back of the Studio and set up for the "special viewing". I asked what was going on and found out they were from the Marketing team. It turns out the Marketing people had not told the Studio salespeople anything about the "special viewing".

A month or so later, the same thing happened again. I heard a Gravity was back in Florida for viewing, so I called the Brickell Studio in Miami. I was told a Gravity was going to be at the Miami Worldcenter Studio on a certain date, and this time the car could be sat in. So I called the Worldcenter Studio, which transferred my call to someone. That person told me the car would be there for viewing, but only between noon and 2 p.m. on a certain Saturday. My partner canceled a league tennis match he had that morning so that we could get to Miami during that window. Again we called ahead to confirm the car was there before heading across the state to see it. And again the salesperson was confused, saying the car had been there and accessible to anyone since the day before. And again . . . I found that there was a Marketing team from HQ that was there with the car, and the local Studio salespeople had been told nothing about special hours or pretty much anything else.

Now we see that Lucid (Marketing?) put out an announcement that Gravity orders would open at 8:00 a.m. PST on November 7, but other parts of the organization (the website team?) seemed to know nothing of that specific time.

I worked on organizational design much of my career, as it can have a real impact on how things get done. For instance, I was at GE when Jack Welch was trying to increase the use of outside sourcing to get manufacturing and labor costs down. As was typical at the time, Sourcing was established as a new organization function reporting to Manufacturing. After a couple of years not much had changed on the sourcing front. We then decided to use an organization reversal to change things up, and Manufacturing leaders were put under Sourcing leaders. We realized that when Manufacturing ran the show, their ingrained habits were to use sourcing only to cover efficiency gaps in their in-house manufacturing plans and investments. But Sourcing leaders asked a different question: "I have to provide parts to engine assembly to produce jet engines. What's the most cost-effective way I can do that?" In effect, they viewed the in-house manufacturing facilities as just another supplier in a larger universe of suppliers. And -- for better or worse for GE and the American economy -- outside sourcing finally took off

Most companies pair Marketing with Sales organizationally. Lucid takes the more unusual approach of pairing Sales with Service, thereby putting Marketing and Sales in different chimneys. That puts a premium on communicating effectively outside your own chimney -- something that very, very few organizations do really well. Unfortunately, it seems that Lucid Marketing is particularly bad at it.

This sows confusion and even resentment in potential customers who, at best, get the impression the organization is haphazard or, at worst, feel Lucid couldn't give a hoot about giving them accurate information. Lucid seems not to understand that the sales force is the most potent touch point that customers have with the company and one that can do a lot of damage when kept out of the loop.

Anyone can pick up a phone and reach a Lucid salesperson. Try picking up the phone and reaching a marketing person.
 
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I got this email on 24-Nov-2021. This may give you an idea of what we can expect as to deliveries/VIN assignment if the Air rollout is any indication:

Hello Alex,
I hope you’re having a great week and getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday.
I wanted to follow up with you before the break to communicate some very exciting news. I was just notified that a VIN has been assigned for your Lucid Air Dream Edition. I am including the details below:
 
Does this mean that the Gravity's turning circle with RWS is smaller than the Air's?
 
Does this mean that the Gravity's turning circle with RWS is smaller than the Air's?
The Gravity page on the Lucid website says 38 ft compared to the Air of 39.4 feet. However, based on @AirDoll description, it seems that the RWS version may be even better than 38 ft.
 
The Gravity page on the Lucid website says 38 ft compared to the Air of 39.4 feet. However, based on @AirDoll description, it seems that the RWS version may be even better than 38 ft.
That would be great, the same as our tiny Volvo XC40! For comparison the Macan EV with RWS manages 36.4 feet, and the Polestar 3 (no RWS) is worse at just under the Air's at 38.8 feet.
 
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I had rear wheel steering on my 2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo. At 199 inches long it had a tighter turning radius than many smaller cars. It made a tremendous difference in turning as well as in tight parking spots and I hope that Lucid will offer it at some time in the future on the Air. I currently have a 2022 AGT. I love it, but when it is 5 years old I plan to sell it and get a smaller car (which is what I have usually prefer). If the new midsize Lucid has the same luxury, acceleration, looks and comfort as my Air it is on my list as a possible replacement. If if turns out that the midsize Lucid is not equal to the attributes of my present Air listed above, then I will consider other cars. However if the Air offers rear wheel steering as an option in the future, then I will probably go back to the Air, as it makes the Air drive like a much smaller car, which would make the Air(at least for me) probably my primary choice.
 
I had rear wheel steering on my 2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo. At 199 inches long it had a tighter turning radius than many smaller cars. It made a tremendous difference in turning as well as in tight parking spots and I hope that Lucid will offer it at some time in the future on the Air. I currently have a 2022 AGT. I love it, but when it is 5 years old I plan to sell it and get a smaller car (which is what I have usually prefer). If the new midsize Lucid has the same luxury, acceleration, looks and comfort as my Air it is on my list as a possible replacement. If if turns out that the midsize Lucid is not equal to the attributes of my present Air listed above, then I will consider other cars. However if the Air offers rear wheel steering as an option in the future, then I will probably go back to the Air, as it makes the Air drive like a much smaller car, which would make the Air(at least for me) probably my primary choice.
Agreed! RWS and bucket seats (or something resembling Porsche’s 18-ways) in a future Air for me please🙏
 
Does this mean that the Gravity's turning circle with RWS is smaller than the Air's?
It felt that way when I was in it, but I don’t have numbers.

That was part of why I was so blown away by what that car could do.

SUVs aren’t supposed to move that way.
 
This was shared on Reddit. Did anybody on this forum receive similar email?
 

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This email is sent when you place your order and pay the $1000 deposit.
Thank you. You are right. I just reviewed my email and it was the same one. It’s been sooooo long. Any new post regarding gravity seems like an exciting new one.
 
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