Jon Rettinger's 6 Month Review

[digiboxer]

For me it is not about the software at all. It is about build quality fit/finish on MY UNIT and yes I have NEVER EVER Had a problem with ANY of my ICE Cars. Ido not buy this first generation stuff. If they cannot build a body then I am sorry their Engineering department is SUB PAR. THAT is where I am coming from.

It almost seems like they were obsessed with the size of the car and finally probably only made the Sportscar types happy. I am very hopeful that the next generation may be a 2024 model or the Gravity will be much better For those who thought it was going to be both.

This just for discussion and personal opinion so hopefully as the other owner said take it for what it is otherwise the aim of the forum is defeated. BTW, it should not be a surprise that I am OCD and High Maintenance .

so far this car is the most fun to drive, the steering has not creaked the cameras are better than my other cars, the inside is nice but the seats are a little low for an old dude like me, the headlights are extremely right and light up the road very well.

I must have finally gotten a car that is low on that Bell Curve

t

Every car is perfect!….. except Lucid, it’s a piece of crap!

Hey--in this rarified "Air" of 150k cars, buyers have --and SHOULD have --rarified expectations.

For all of those who have already bought, there seems a tiny bit of covering for Lucid (and for their own *buy* decisions) in the face of some (I would say) unexpected failings in the cars.

For those who have reserved AND are interested enough to spend time here in market research: the glitches, bugs, slow production, etc mean one thing to you and something entirely different to others...no one should ridicule your priorities. On the other hand, this blog is a means for you to assess and mitigate your risk at the "expense" of those who took the greater and earlier risk than you---be grateful and respectful.

JMO, but (assuming good faith and a respectful tone) I welcome all input from owners and reservers alike. I haven't committed yet and have serious doubts. But the quality of input here is quite extraordinary and helpful as I assess my options.

Last point: this blog is surely watched by LCiD management. Let's assume they're doing the normal customer surveys, etc. but this blog is robust, and they would ignore it at their peril. As a *maybe* buyers, I want to see the good, bad and ugly expressed here (honestly and in good faith) and LCID should want to hear it too. As someone said earlier, once they 're thru selling to the (mostly forgiving) enthusiasts, who's next?

Peace

 

[HC_79]

t

Hey--in this rarified "Air" of 150k cars, buyers have --and SHOULD have --rarified expectations.

For all of those who have already bought, there seems a tiny bit of covering for Lucid (and for their own *buy* decisions) in the face of some (I would say) unexpected failings in the cars.

For those who have reserved AND are interested enough to spend time here in market research: the glitches, bugs, slow production, etc mean one thing to you and something entirely different to others...no one should ridicule your priorities. On the other hand, this blog is a means for you to assess and mitigate your risk at the "expense" of those who took the greater and earlier risk than you---be grateful and respectful.

JMO, but (assuming good faith and a respectful tone) I welcome all input from owners and reservers alike. I haven't committed yet and have serious doubts. But the quality of input here is quite extraordinary and helpful as I assess my options.

Last point: this blog is surely watched by LCiD management. Let's assume they're doing the normal customer surveys, etc. but this blog is robust, and they would ignore it at their peril. As a *maybe* buyers, I want to see the good, bad and ugly expressed here (honestly and in good faith) and LCID should want to hear it too. As someone said earlier, once they 're thru selling to the (mostly forgiving) enthusiasts, who's next?

Peace

I own and I’m not covering for Lucid. I think Jon’s review was fair and accurate as it listed out pros and cons just like every other car on the market. We do need to stop and realize though that this is the first car from a brand new automaker. Its competitors have decades of experience compared to Lucid so they do deserve some credit for even getting cars into owners hands.

The car is by no means perfect but it’s not horrible either. Yes, the software is frustrating but it’s not unusable. I’ve owned many cars and can identify flaws in all of them.

Communication is Lucid’s biggest weakness in my opinion. The silence has been deafening on production issues and acknowledging the problems with the software. Peter’s coming across as arrogant and by not willing to acknowledge issues publicly isn’t a good look. Heck, how hard is it to even send an email to owners saying “they didn’t get it quite right” but he’s too proud to even do that.

 

[Tesla2.0]

The car is by no means perfect but it’s not horrible either. Yes, the software is frustrating but it’s not unusable. I’ve owned many cars and can identify flaws in all of them.

Communication is Lucid’s biggest weakness in my opinion. The silence has been deafening on production issues and acknowledging the problems with the software. Peter’s coming across as arrogant and by not willing to acknowledge issues publicly isn’t a good look. Heck, how hard is it to even send an email to owners saying “they didn’t get it quite right” but he’s too proud to even do that.

I think Peter Rawlinson has admitted publicly to CNBC and Saudi interviews that Lucid software does have more refinement to go. But then again he went back to focus on their battery tech and efficiency. The video clips are somewhere in forum, I couldn’t find it at the moment. Meanwhile, Lucid has many fronts of business execution in critical stage imo.

1 - ramping up retail shops for marketing
2 - AMP-1 and AMP-2 constant expansion of manufacturing capacity til mid decade
3 - supply chain issues churning production
4 - QA at production and PDI
5 - Software refinement and IT staff ramping up
6 - ancillary services of EV and Saudi grid infrastructure transition from oil industry
7 - European market penetration
8 - production execution of Gravity and additional model for masses
9 - cost reduction in further vertical integration

That is why CEO gets paid big bucks. To us, delivery is slow, to them they are swamped with lots of strategic initiatives for next 4~8 years horizon.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I think Peter Rawlinson has admitted publicly to CNBC and Saudi interviews that Lucid software does have more refinement to go. But then again he went back to focus on their battery tech and efficiency. The video clips are somewhere in forum, I couldn’t find it at the moment. Meanwhile, Lucid has many fronts of business execution in critical stage imo.

1 - ramping up retail shops for marketing
2 - AMP-1 and AMP-2 constant expansion of manufacturing capacity til mid decade
3 - supply chain issues churning production
4 - QA at production and PDI
5 - Software refinement and IT staff ramping up
6 - ancillary services of EV and Saudi grid infrastructure transition from oil industry
7 - European market penetration
8 - production execution of Gravity and additional model for masses
9 - cost reduction in further vertical integration

That is why CEO gets paid big bucks. To us, delivery is slow, to them they are swamped with lots of strategic initiatives for next 4~8 years horizon.

That’s some good perspective. I don’t require an apology from Peter, I think Lucid is doing just fine given the current automotive industry climate in general. I only measure the car against where Rivian is and where Tesla was in their first year. In some ways Lucid is doing better, in some ways worse. However all the evidence points towards them working on it quite hard and improving, it just takes time. I was impressed that in only 3 months they managed to go from 1.2.1 to 1.2.6 as 1.2.6 was a big improvement, finally made the navigation usable (it’s not perfect but waaaaay better than 1.2.1), better streaming quality, improved AC, trunk open with fob, etc. That’s pretty fast as far as software timelines go.

My only concern about the software is whether the car’s circuit hardware is capable of improvement and implementing more of the upgrades we’re hoping for, like with the lag issues, screen buttons not always recognizing a push and sometimes being slow to register that you touched them, cameras being glitchy. Can “responsiveness” be improved with software updates? I know they partnered with NVIDIA, who are supposedly great, but does this first generation of DE and GT even have the NVIDIA hardware? Given the global chip shortage that’s been clobbering everyone since before Lucid started production, do they even have acceptable chips in the car? Maybe so, I’m uninformed on this topic but curious to learn more.

 

[Tesla2.0]

That’s some good perspective. I don’t require an apology from Peter, I think Lucid is doing just fine given the current automotive industry climate in general. I only measure the car against where Rivian is and where Tesla was in their first year. In some ways Lucid is doing better, in some ways worse. However all the evidence points towards them working on it quite hard and improving, it just takes time. I was impressed that in only 3 months they managed to go from 1.2.1 to 1.2.6 as 1.2.6 was a big improvement, finally made the navigation usable (it’s not perfect but waaaaay better than 1.2.1), better streaming quality, improved AC, trunk open with fob, etc. That’s pretty fast as far as software timelines go.

My only concern about the software is whether the car’s circuit hardware is capable of improvement and implementing more of the upgrades we’re hoping for, like with the lag issues, screen buttons not always recognizing a push and sometimes being slow to register that you touched them, cameras being glitchy. Can “responsiveness” be improved with software updates? I know they partnered with NVIDIA, who are supposedly great, but does this first generation of DE and GT even have the NVIDIA hardware? Given the global chip shortage that’s been clobbering everyone since before Lucid started production, do they even have acceptable chips in the car? Maybe so, I’m uninformed on this topic but curious to learn more.

Yeah, I think they did improve a lot, but people wants perfect car at this price point so are unforgiving for glitches. I think somewhere in 1.2.22 or 1.3.1 there will be a lot more amazement to come. Everything just take time. But meanwhile the glitchy slowness of OS infrastructure needs to be higher priority than car’s applications development. I see the Navigation team really did a lot of work in last 3 months. CarPlay team and multimedia integration team are also writing codes constantly, most likely they have many stuffs are already baked, just not stable enough or confident enough to release them, eventually they will all be published. All these auto manufacturers check each other out to cherry pick competitor’s features to copy; so I never have doubt more apps will get there to impress. Imo, what is weak right now in Lucid Motors are their QA teams in assembly line and software testing and customer care communication.

It is easy for me to be forgiving. I have been traveling a lot, so I have yet put up serious miles 1500 total - 800 intrastate = 700 city miles so far in 10 weeks. But those 700 miles are very exhilarating rides in gorgeous and quiet cabin. I am a rough driver according to my family. I have always prefer 2 seaters convertible, but this sedan exceeds of my expectation. Huge interior cabin, but drive like a nimble sports coup. I can see why Lucid Motor’s mission statement is to redefine what luxury is in EV. The software may need more refinement, but no one will deny this is one of best cars ever. It’s may not look sporty like Porsche, but it sure handle ma like a racing car. And the two tones front row and back row may be a unique class of its own. All my passengers in the backseats were impressed, some even calling it limo. I can really go on and on how positive I feel about this car.

 

[joec]

Can “responsiveness” be improved with software updates?

Oh, most definitely. I haven’t gotten any real experience playing with the software myself, so I can’t say for sure, but from everything described on these forums, this feels like poorly implemented software, not slow hardware.

Take the very earliest Android tablets vs the first iPad as an example. Many Android devices in those days contained chips that were technically faster than the iPad’s. But iPad’s screen responsiveness and scrolling was far smoother.

And I can show you dozens of apps on iPhone that scroll poorly and don’t respond quickly to button taps, sitting side-by-side on the same phone with apps that are perfectly fine.

It’s all a matter of where you put your priorities. Android got much better over time. I’m sure Lucid is working on this.

 

[Bus Driver]

I own and I’m not covering for Lucid. I think Jon’s review was fair and accurate as it listed out pros and cons just like every other car on the market. We do need to stop and realize though that this is the first car from a brand new automaker. Its competitors have decades of experience compared to Lucid so they do deserve some credit for even getting cars into owners hands.

The car is by no means perfect but it’s not horrible either. Yes, the software is frustrating but it’s not unusable. I’ve owned many cars and can identify flaws in all of them.

Communication is Lucid’s biggest weakness in my opinion. The silence has been deafening on production issues and acknowledging the problems with the software. Peter’s coming across as arrogant and by not willing to acknowledge issues publicly isn’t a good look. Heck, how hard is it to even send an email to owners saying “they didn’t get it quite right” but he’s too proud to even do that.

I just can’t bear the thought of grown-up, courtly Rawlinson turning out to be more like that frat boy, bro-dude turd, Elon Musk.

 

[DJL]

That’s some good perspective. I don’t require an apology from Peter, I think Lucid is doing just fine given the current automotive industry climate in general. I only measure the car against where Rivian is and where Tesla was in their first year. In some ways Lucid is doing better, in some ways worse. However all the evidence points towards them working on it quite hard and improving, it just takes time. I was impressed that in only 3 months they managed to go from 1.2.1 to 1.2.6 as 1.2.6 was a big improvement, finally made the navigation usable (it’s not perfect but waaaaay better than 1.2.1), better streaming quality, improved AC, trunk open with fob, etc. That’s pretty fast as far as software timelines go.

My only concern about the software is whether the car’s circuit hardware is capable of improvement and implementing more of the upgrades we’re hoping for, like with the lag issues, screen buttons not always recognizing a push and sometimes being slow to register that you touched them, cameras being glitchy. Can “responsiveness” be improved with software updates? I know they partnered with NVIDIA, who are supposedly great, but does this first generation of DE and GT even have the NVIDIA hardware? Given the global chip shortage that’s been clobbering everyone since before Lucid started production, do they even have acceptable chips in the car? Maybe so, I’m uninformed on this topic but curious to learn more.

I have yet to receive my car and am pessimistic that I will before late August or even September or later. Confirmed April 19th. I have researched both the car and the management team extensively and am impressed with both, or, at least their potential. What is really starting to annoy me is the lack of communication. Lucid is at a critical plain right now, with a poor production history, questionable build-quality issue history and a software development that is lagging. Granted, their SA and DA staff have deservedly gotten mostly rave reviews and their customer service history seems to be better than any other auto company I have dealt with. Granted, there have been exceptions, but those are rare.
I am still in love with the car and am encourage with the recent improvements and Peter's religous position of delivering a quality product. However, Peter and his team need, I repeat need, to greatly improve on their communications with their costumers who have paid a deposit but not heard anything for weeks and months at a time. This lack of communications is inexcusable and does have an impact on those who are waiting for their cars and those who are reading this forum trying to make a decision to pull the trigger or not. While I understand some of the rationalizations to not do so, there are very pressing and overriding needs to belatedly start now. Their silence on these pressing issues will and is costing them customers. As a stockholder, this greatly concerns me. Up until now, I have given them a pass ( new company, typical startup issues, dealing with financial issues, supply-chain issues, vender quality issues, labor shortage issues, blah, blah, blah.). I am quickly approaching the stage of losing my patience because of their silence. Peter and his team need to change communication strategies now before the rumor mill and individual discontents (who may be justified) take over and Lucid Motors end up doing mostly damage control.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Regarding communication, while it could be improved, I’m wondering how many individual customers each sales associate is covering? It may not be possible without working around the clock for them to give weekly updates, especially if they themselves have no information to relay. Staffing shortages are a universal problem in all industries so I’m not sure how able they are to provide updates to all customers regularly and upon request. I seem to remember reading it was the same issue for Rivian.

 

[digiboxer]

Regarding communication, while it could be improved, I’m wondering how many individual customers each sales associate is covering? It may not be possible without working around the clock for them to give weekly updates, especially if they themselves have no information to relay. Staffing shortages are a universal problem in all industries so I’m not sure how able they are to provide updates to all customers regularly and upon request. I seem to remember reading it was the same issue for Rivian.

I don't blame the SA/DAs---they're directed by HQ. And it's interesting how many times they answer "I don't have access to that info"--when the info in question is pretty basic stuff ("Will my delivery be delayed if I spec Silver"? etc).

DJL has a good point--the current "strategy" isn't just aggravating potential buyers, it's also threatening the company. These long delays are letting the competition catch up. L should be communicating in ways that keep our attention and enthusiasm, rather than stonewalling....JMO.

Yesterday I got a cold call from my Audi dealer saying they just got another E-tron GT. I've told the guy for months I've decided against that car (to me the Air is a better car and a much better value). But at some point a few months from now if I have no visibility on my AT order I'm going to jump at something else.

BTW, I agree PR doesn't owe you an apology: you have your car!

 

[Sam6062]

I believe Rawlinson is drunk on all the fluff awards rather than concentrating on the quality issues.

If you can’t make simple things like Doors, Trunk, Frunk, Windows align on a 150K Car then I really don’t expect Software to be worth much. Electronics are a lot more complicated animal.

I expect the basic Car to be functional. If THAT is too much to ASK THEN I suppose I expect a lot.

Did I say the Car is fun to drive .

I want to implore the person who is here from Lucid to take this seriously. I am a huge Lucid fan and am a stockholder before I became an owner. If enthusiasts become unhappy then what’s next.

Also Rawlinson already said NOT working on any power solutions until I think at least 2024-25.
SUV Pushed back a Year.
So WHAT is he working on, those YouTube Videos?

 

[victoryroad]

Lucid: There is no substitute. Therefore I remain patient on my three-month-old confirmed order for a silver AGT and consider myself lucky if I have to wait another three months so the company can make the necessary changes before mine is manufactured.

 

[dotmatrix_cloud]

You’re right, I’m being harsh, it’s just that the complaints are relentless.

I still get a chuckle from the first time I noticed that one potential way to (mis)read the URL of this site is luci-DOWNERS

 

[TCGT]

Regarding communication, while it could be improved, I’m wondering how many individual customers each sales associate is covering? It may not be possible without working around the clock for them to give weekly updates, especially if they themselves have no information to relay. Staffing shortages are a universal problem in all industries so I’m not sure how able they are to provide updates to all customers regularly and upon request. I seem to remember reading it was the same issue for Rivian.

I recently asked my DA how many orders he was managing at any one time and he said "around 100".

 

[digiboxer]

What could possibly be the downside to LCID from releasing total number of res/confirms--by model and by color?

 

[Sandvinsd]

What could possibly be the downside to LCID from releasing total number of res/confirms--by model and by color?

poor numbers of their higher end trims and the large number of stalled deliveries in the funnel.

 

[HC_79]

What could possibly be the downside to LCID from releasing total number of res/confirms--by model and by color?

A number of things. You don't know how the market is going to react if more Pures are reserved than AGT's etc. or vice versa.

 

[Sam6062]

Every car is perfect!….. except Lucid, it’s a piece of crap!

For a 150K Car it sure is because it’s no longer with me, on its way to Houston. Feels like owning a Lambo or a Ferrari or a Range Rover . I don’t know but I hear those are in the Shop more than with their owners.

If I cannot use it then what should I call it?

 

[hydbob]

For a 150K Car it sure is because it’s no longer with me, on its way to Houston. Feels like owning a Lambo or a Ferrari or a Range Rover . I don’t know but I hear those are in the Shop more than with their owners.

If I cannot use it then what should I call it?

Well for Ferrari or Lambo you are getting the same experience at half the price. Bargain!

 

[stevelitchfieldpark]

For a 150K Car it sure is because it’s no longer with me, on its way to Houston. Feels like owning a Lambo or a Ferrari or a Range Rover . I don’t know but I hear those are in the Shop more than with their owners.

If I cannot use it then what should I call it?

"Sold"