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Gravity; SUV or Minivan

hmp10 said:
Yes, yes, and yes.

As someone who has driven (and still drives) a minivan for over 14 years, I'm not the least bit embarrassed to be seen in one.

To me, the issue about so many people calling it a minivan is that -- for better or worse (and I think worse) -- the American market shies away from that category. The Gravity doesn't photograph well compared to how it looks in the flesh. With so few Gravities available to see in the flesh and with so many opinions forming based on extensive photographic press coverage, I wonder how many potential customers will write it off and move on before waiting or making the effort to see one in person. It's going to be many moons before enough of them are seen on the road to begin to sell itself on looks -- a factor that dominates many buying decisions.

I don't have any data to prove it, but I suspect looks are a threshold issue for many buyers. If they think or have heard that a vehicle is in a category in which they aren't interested, they simply write it off and don't move on to a more in-depth exploration of what the vehicle offers.

"Car people" will get what the Gravity is about big time. But for it to be the market success that Lucid needs, a whole lot of "non-car people" will need to buy one.
Click to expand...
I would liken the Gravity to the duality between Emma Mackey and Margot Robbie.
Minivan or SUV, who cares.
 

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Gravitas said:
I would liken the Gravity to the duality between Emma Mackey and Margot Robbie.
Minivan or SUV, who cares.
Click to expand...

I'm getting one no matter what anyone calls it. And I know that the Lucid fans who have already decided they want one won't care. But this isn't about whether any one of us on this forum cares what it is called. It's about what the wider market will think.

Lucid needs to draw in buyers who don't know the brand, and trying to get them to look at a vehicle that many on social media and in the press are calling a minivan could be a problem.

Kyle Conner of "Out of Spec Motoring" is on the panel of judges for this year's SUV of the Year award and has hinted that the Gravity will get his vote. Yet even he, in his Pebble Brook review, said the Gravity looks like a minivan. David Tracy of "The Autopian", an engineer and former tech editor at "Jalopnik", loves the Gravity but worries that American car buyers might turn their backs on it because they think it looks too much like a minivan.

We on the forum might not care what it gets called. But I suspect that Lucid does.
 
hmp10 said:
We on the forum might not care what it gets called. But I suspect that Lucid does.
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Lucid cares a lot. They say "SUV" on repeat in every one of their videos. "A new class of vehicle" makes no sense to anyone even if it's true.

It will take time, but assuming they can get the bugs out and stay solvent I don't worry that it'll find a following purely because of how all-around capable it is. My wife really wants the Gravity and it would be her car. She loves the look vs the alternatives and cares less what they call it. Meanwhile I'm an engineer/ car guy with a long list of drivers cars either still owned or behind me: BMW 1M + M3, GT3 Touring, GT4, Audi E-tron GT, about a dozen Porsches, etc. The fact that this is the first time my wife and I have wanted the same car says quite a lot I think.
 
hmp10 said:
I'm getting one no matter what anyone calls it. And I know that the Lucid fans who have already decided they want one won't care. But this isn't about whether any one of us on this forum cares what it is called. It's about what the wider market will think.

Lucid needs to draw in buyers who don't know the brand, and trying to get them to look at a vehicle that many on social media and in the press are calling a minivan could be a problem.

Kyle Conner of "Out of Spec Motoring" is on the panel of judges for this year's SUV of the Year award and has hinted that the Gravity will get his vote. Yet even he, in his Pebble Brook review, said the Gravity looks like a minivan. David Tracy of "The Autopian", an engineer and former tech editor at "Jalopnik", loves the Gravity but worries that American car buyers might turn their backs on it because they think it looks too much like a minivan.

We on the forum might not care what it gets called. But I suspect that Lucid does.
Click to expand...
Automotive journalists love fast wagons, I bet it wins SUV of the year awards.
I do worry they have made a car for enthusiasts and not buyers of $100k+ SUVs. In my opinion it looks infinitely better than jelly bean SUVs like the Model X and Y and have no idea why anyone would consider them more of an SUV than the Gravity. I like the traditional shape of the Rivian but it's just not aerodynamically efficient and I prefer on road performance to off-road performance that would lead me to astronomical repair bills (I've got an old body on frame SUV for that.)
 
hmp10 said:
"Car people" will get what the Gravity is about big time. But for it to be the market success that Lucid needs, a whole lot of "non-car people" will need to buy one.
Click to expand...
I can pretty much guarantee you that after a single ride in or experience in a gravity, you won’t find very many people who don’t want it because “it looks like a minivan.”

I suspect this won’t be as much of an issue as people are making it out to be here. Remember that while we are arguably “car people,” the “non-car people” are also not watching auto reviews that call it a minivan either. They’ll see it on the street or in a studio.

I suspect this is an issue created by car reviewers and “car people,” that only “car people” will care at all about.
 
I was not all all interested in an SUV. Then I saw this photo:
1737161375457.webp

Unless this woman plays for the WNBA ...it looks to me like she can wash the center of the roof on the Gravity.

...so I configured one, and saved it. Once again, Lucid can't find the can of silver paint....so once again, I'll have to wait a year longer than anyone else.
 
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The most comparable vehicle is the Mercedes R63 which only sold 108 copies in the US. The cheaper variants sold much better of course but Mercedes never made a second generation.
1737161768864.webp
 
Cosmo Cruz said:
I had a hard-on for the R63 Mercedes. Ended up buying this instead:
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Love it!
As a former Audi S4 Avant and Subaru Legacy GT Wagon owner I predict the Gravity will sell very well to the type of people who buy high performance station wagons.
 
Elfin said:
The most comparable vehicle is the Mercedes R63 which only sold 108 copies in the US. The cheaper variants sold much better of course but Mercedes never made a second generation.
View attachment 26059
Click to expand...
Note that Audi wagons went away in the US because of lack of sales. When they came back they brought the RS6 (halo model) and allroad only. This helped them get rid of the “practical car” stigma, and they have done well enough that BMW is bringing the M5 wagon this year. Very active owner’s club, great resale value, etc enabled I’d argue by dropping the cheaper variants you mention. So there’s a playbook, and I’d argue Lucid is trying to follow it. See an R63 and even most hard core car guys would have no clue it’s a “cool” car without looking at the badge. Meanwhile we’ll all be spotting the Gravity from the other side of the freeway, and we’ll know exactly what’s under the hood.
 
Elfin said:
The most comparable vehicle is the Mercedes R63 which only sold 108 copies in the US. The cheaper variants sold much better of course but Mercedes never made a second generation.
Click to expand...
Cosmo Cruz said:
I had a hard-on for the R63 Mercedes.
Click to expand...

The R Class soldiered on in long wheelbase form in China for a few more years after U.S. sales ceased.

The R63 was only on the market for one model year (2007) with only 200 units built. It quickly got a reputation for poor handling, due in part to the 6.2 liter engine. A couple of years later one that had under 100 miles on it and had never been titled showed up on eBay. I struggled with the temptation to buy it until it was finally pulled from offer. I had traded my problem-ridden 2004 SL55 AMG for my first Audi R8 by then and, finding the R8 a far more nailed down car, I was able to resist another Mercedes. But I just thought the R63 looked so bizarrely cool that I couldn't help lusting after it.

I've always had a soft spot for oddball cars. During my poverty-stricken law school days in the 1970's I went through three used North Carolina Highway Patrol cars (1976, 1977, and 1978 Plymouth Furies with 440ci engines and the police package: 140-amp generators, radiators for cooling power steering fluid, etc.) that I picked up at auctions. And I came across a 1953 Chrysler Crown Imperial limousine sitting in a dusty warehouse that I also had to fight off urges to keep from buying. It was a dark green tank with mohair upholstery, jump seats, piston-shaped window switches, and an A/C unit in the trunk that would have cooled a small house. After inquiries about where I could get it serviced came up dry, I backed away.
 
borski said:
I can pretty much guarantee you that after a single ride in or experience in a gravity, you won’t find very many people who don’t want it because “it looks like a minivan.”
Click to expand...

That I don't doubt. I just hope enough people will get to a showroom to see and drive it before they consign it to the minivan category that they think is not worth exploring.

Being named "SUV of the Year" would certainly help.
 
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