Let's play armchair CMO

[coma24]

What attracted me to Lucid is almost entirely centered around the vehicle's performance. I am blown away by what it can do. Between that, the design philosophy, and the superior technology (motor efficiency and software architecture updatable through OTA), I'm all in. What saddens me, though, is that a significant amount of those aspects are of little to no interest to pretty much everyone who has been in the car. They love interior, love the novelty of the acceleration, but that's about it. They're deeply suspicious of EV's (every single one of them) and even if they were, I'm sure they'd simply opt for the lowest price car with a reasonable interior. So much of the nuance just isn't of interest.

How to market the car and the company is a mystery to me, other than perhaps tackling the "I don't like EV's" issue head-on.

 

[vav493]

Apple almost went broke and if it wasn't for the bailout that Microsoft gave them Apple wouldn't be around today. Apple only got a cult following when the iPhone came about. Yes, the iPod was popular but it wasn't really until the iPhone \ iPad that they really started to take off.

People often have a very short memory when it comes to history. They think that the Lucid should be like Apple and Tesla today, but they conveniently forget that Apple and Tesla didn’t become the successful companies they are without facing significant challenges along the way.

I think about this a lot! Amazon sustained significant losses for years (and even disclosed it as part of their SEC filings), yet… after holding steadfast, look at where they are now. Sometimes, I feel the investing population has gotten a bit too enchanted with a generally up-and-up economy (once 2008 was far enough away in the rear-view mirror), and now… it’s grow, grow, grow; more, more, more; faster, faster, faster - otherwise you’re considered a “failing” investment.

 

[borski]

I think about this a lot! Amazon sustained significant losses for years (and even disclosed it as part of their SEC filings), yet… after holding steadfast, look at where they are now. Sometimes, I feel the investing population has gotten a bit too enchanted with a generally up-and-up economy (once 2008 was far enough away in the rear-view mirror), and now… it’s grow, grow, grow; more, more, more; faster, faster, faster - otherwise you’re considered a “failing” investment.

Yup. ZIRP did not help.

 

[Ktw13]

I am all in investor of LCID.

Air is a technological statement hence we have Sapphire.

Gravity is a practicality statement hence we have only 2 trims but hapes of option.

Mid size will be tech enabler statement showing they can build better car for less through tech advancement over competitor.

After that, I see they licensing trickled down tech to company like Tata to sell $20k EV with Jaguar brand in millions.

 

[DreamTour]

There was a statement before about gaining cult brand status. Cult brands exist when they become an identifiable defining part of someone’s lifestyle that even others from the outside can obviously see.

Thought experiment: in what way could lucid become a lifestyle brand? They are pushing California modern lux today in their imagery / language etc. for those who have visited or live in California this is identifiable. But I believe it’s a bit subtle for the broader audience and hard to export as a lifestyle.

Rivian for example went for adventure / rei lifestyle. Ironically I see lots of used rivians for sale that say it’s clean because it’s never gone off road! But nevertheless outdoor adventure is more broadly accessible an idea than California lux. I would argue that rivian is closer to a cult following than lucid for this reason. Their volume success is driven both by this and suv / truck form factor which is more popular. When they can turn gross margin positive per unit is yet to be seen given how much battery they have to put in the car and their relatively lower asp for a given battery size.