Personal opinion without any Lucid-specific knowledge follows, so feel free to ignore if you please:
I think everyone is way too accepting of the smokescreens around "supply chain." I work in manufacturing. Tariffs suck. There have been hiccups and snarls. But they haven't brought all of industry to some screeching halt. I am sure Lucid and other EV manufacturers have some other wrinkles to deal with around things like rare earth magnets, but you'll note that all the cars rolling off the line have motors - they're missing other (IMO dumb) stuff like HUD wiring harnesses. These things aren't unobtanium.
I also think it's unreasonable to think that Lucid couldn't have done a much better job of matching cars to orders, rather than build random low-spec builds. If you can find a combination of the features you wanted in a build across several vehicles, it's not unreasonable to wonder why they didn't just build one good car instead of three unwanted ones, or delivered 3 vehicles to newer reservation holders while leaving long-term holders in an increasingly interminable holding pattern. If there is a build just like yours that got delivered to someone who ordered in August, except in a different color and wheel size, while your color and wheel size are obviously available on the site, then that almost definitely wasn't a "supply chain" issue - it was more likely a lack of a good manufacturing planning or allocation system.
And don't get me started on the paint. There's no good reason I can think of why paint couldn't have been nailed down a long time ago. (short of just poor project planning and/or lack of resources)
I believe the reality is that Lucid was still designing deep into the period when they should have been doing pilot builds and transfer to manufacturing work, and the result is that now they're trying to assemble the plane while it's already in the air. I'm sure there were also resource constraints. But IMO all the reasons that blame external conditions are just smokescreens or excuses. At Toyota, a company I know a little bit about, the design is basically locked and done 1 year prior to launch. That time is needed to iron out the supply chain, purchase and secure inventory and supply chains, cure manufacturing issues, etc. We know for a fact that this was not the case with the Gravity, because they have stated they redesigned the motor to be used as an inverter once they gained supercharger access very late in the game. Don't get me wrong - I applaud that strategic choice. But I think this was going on for a lot more than just the motor. The lack of a functioning prototype HUD (I *still* don't think anyone outside Lucid has seen even a prototype of a fully-functioning AR-enabled version?) VERY strongly suggests that development work was still going on post-launch - and maybe even now.....
Not to say any of this is easy. It's not. It's incredibly freaking hard. I empathize. I've never even been part of a project as big or complicated as a car with lots of cutting edge tech. But speaking as someone who wants the company to succeed, but also who has been sitting on an order for 11 months now, and someone with more than a passing understanding of what it takes to design and manufacture products, I find the blanket acceptance of the supply chain excuse kind of maddening.
I say all this with full respect and admiration for all. Just a dumb guy on the internet's opinion. But if
@borski got one of his sources at Lucid drunk one night, I bet he'd hear I'm closer to the truth than not.
lucidmotors.com
