Hello Is anybody out there?

[Hawk]

A computer-literate friend and I were discussing EVs, and I mentioned that Lucid was initially teasing a Launch Edition of 255 cars, which I thought was an odd number. He told me that one byte can store numbers from 0 to 255 and is consequently one character slot in a database.

Could that be why Lucid chose 255? Maybe an inside joke among the engineers . . . and a dog whistle to those in the know that everything about Lucid is engineering-oriented?

Will be interesting to see if Lucid acknowledges how many Dream Editions will actually be produced. I have my deposit in and am anxiously awaiting the Sept 9th unveil to determine if I will follow through on ordering the Dream Edition. It is impossible to obtain any info currently. Believe me I have tried.

 

[hmp10]

I am with you in having a deposit in and waiting for September 9 to see if I want the Dream Edition.

I was initially attracted to the Lucid by the executive rear seats. Eric Bach, Lucid's chief hardware engineer, said in a recent interview that they would not be available at launch, and Lucid's website has now added "later availability" tags to all photos and mentions of the recliners. I have decided that they may be a little too gimmicky, anyway, and that the bench rear seats would suit just fine. (The sales rep told me that most Lucid employees think the bench seats are more comfortable, and I tend to believe it, as I have one of the rare Tesla Model S's with the "executive seating" option that only lasted a few months, and they are even less comfortable than the already-cramped standard rear seats.)

The Dream Edition will only come in three colors, but I can live with any of them.

The remaining issue is the glass canopy on the Dream Edition. The alpha cars had a switch above the rearview mirror for electrochromic darkening of the glass, although those early cars were not actually fitted with electrochromic glass. A few months ago I asked the sales person if the electrochromic glass was going to be available on the Dream Edition. She had never heard of it, and I had to explain what it was. She said she would check and get back to me. She never did, so the next time I called her to ask, she said its availability was not yet determined. (The electrochromic film that they sandwich between layers of glass is fairly rigid and does not tolerate much bending. I'm wondering if in 2016 Lucid thought that was a problem that would be resolved by now but might not have been.) I want the glass canopy, but without electrochromic darkening it will be a non-starter for me in south Florida, and I will have to wait for the metal roof version to enter production.

 

[Hawk]

I'm with you regarding the availability of the electrochromic darkening for the glass canopy. We're both from the same area and it is a must.

I was also initially attracted to the executive rear seats but, upon further consideration the standard bench seat will be more practicable. It also appears from the photos that the executive rear seats may extend back into the truck area more than the bench seats and actually decrease the amount of trunk storage space. Hard to tell. Just my perception.

My sales person, Matthew, would not confirm the number or actual colors that will be available on the Dream Edition, only that they are rich, vibrant and highlight the lines of the Air.

 

[hmp10]

I've seen photos of the trunk of an Air with the recliners. It's tiny -- little over a foot deep -- although there is a small storage well under the trunk floor. On the other hand, the front trunk of the Lucid is considerably larger than in a Tesla. Another problem with the recliners is that they are pushed further toward the center in order to clear the wheel wells during full recline. You can see this from the narrowness of the center armrest compared to the fold-down center armrest in the photos of the bench seat. I doubt if two people could even share the center armrest with the recliners.

I've been told the three Dream Edition colors will be a pearlescent black, a pearlescent white, and a soft bronzy-gold, the latter being unique to the Dream Edition. The car that was to appear at the New York Auto Show is the gold color and has the Santa Monica interior. My salesperson could not tell me which interior color packages are going to be available with which exterior colors.

 

[Hawk]

Thanks for that info. My wife likes the gray / blue color depicted on their site.

 

[hmp10]

I like that color, too. However, I've found that Lucid publicity shots use so many lighting effects that it can be impossible to determine the car's color in natural lighting. Photos taken by journalists or attendees at viewings usually seem to capture the colors more accurately.

For instance, Lucid posted a shot of a car sitting in their Newark design studio that I thought was the gold color for the Dream Edition. My salesperson told me that the car was actually gray but just looked gold in the lighting. (For what it's worth, she told me that if I liked that picture, I would like the actual gold color.)

I find the Lucid design to be very intriguing. While there are many futuristic elements to it, some details are distinctly retro. Many elements harken back to the 1950's: the two-tone exterior (all roof rails of brushed aluminum, at least with the glass canopy), two-tone interiors, some of the steering wheels with two-tone leathers and chromed buttons, and the Dream Edition logo (which uses a typeface redolent of the classic 1957 Chevy Bel Air logo). It's kind of a quirky mix, but I think it works.

 

[Hawk]

It's kind of a quirky mix, but I think it works.

The seamless blending of the new with the old is unique and works extremely well. It is one of the design elements that appeals to me.