Lucid Air Production Delay

[hmp10]

As Tesla had test cars on the road with both the yoke steering and a conventional steering wheel, there was speculation that a buyer would have a choice. It turns out the new Model S comes only with the yoke steering. I share your concerns. However, several videos have now appeared by people who have had the yoke steering long enough to get used to it. Their reactions ranged from enthusiastic to neutral (with lingering concerns, especially about the horn button).

Fit and finish do worry me. The car we saw yesterday had no apparent issues with it, but some of those issues can be slow to emerge. On the other hand, the Lucid will be my primary driver, and the Tesla will be the primary driver for my partner, who has been a lot more loathe to let go of the old Model S than I am.

By the way, we were behind an Audi e-Tron coming home yesterday. It was the first time I had seen one on the road. Very handsome car.

 

[Alex]

Their reactions ranged from enthusiastic to neutral (with lingering concerns, especially about the horn button).

I had a SAAB 9000 many years ago, which had horn buttons on the steering wheel - one on each side. It was most convenient, although those were the only buttons on the steering wheel, so it was hard to get them wrong.

 

[Lucken]

Thanks. Was it the SUV or the Sportback e-Tron you saw?

I’m really surprised there is no option for the normal steering wheel. I too thought it would be an option. I wonder if you called one of the design centers that they might present an option. I’ve heard of things like that happening.

What amazes me about the MS, is how fresh it still looks nearly 10 years later.

 

[hmp10]

I am more worried about the turn signal buttons than the horn button. If the yoke is off center you will sometimes have to look at the wheel to locate the right button instead of using a stalk in a fixed position. However, the visuals of two stalks sticking out in thin air with no wheel to mask them would have been a bit jarring. The only thing I like about the yoke is the clear view it gives to the driver's binnacle.

To keep my post short, I actually conflated two things about ordering the car. We picked up our old car that the Service Center in Ft. Myers yesterday where we saw the new white Model S. But we drove down to the showroom in Naples (where we live) to place the order, even though we could have ordered at the Service Center. It gave us a little time to think through whether this was the way we wanted to go with switching out cars, plus the Naples showroom has a better display of colors and options. We were told there was no option for the steering.

We opted for the 21" Arachnid wheels, which worries me a bit. I have the 19" wheels on the current Tesla which, in 2015, I thought were the best-looking wheels as well as providing a more compliant ride. But the 19" aero wheels that are showing up on cars these days (including the Lucid and Tesla 19" wheels) are just butt ugly to my mind. The graphite Arachnid wheels on the white MS with the black-out trim we saw at the Service Center yesterday looks spectacular.

You've probably heard all the news about soaring used car values. A friend just bought his Nissan Kicks off lease for a contract residual of $13,200. He sold the car two weeks later to Carvana for $19,400. I got a trade-in quote on my Model S at the Tesla showroom about eight months ago when we were considering a Model X. The trade-in value was just under $33,000. Yesterday they quoted me a trade-in value of $41,900.

The e-Tron was the SUV. I actually like that roofline.

 

[hmp10]

This morning we decided to upgrade our Tesla order to a Plaid. It seems that doing so bumped our delivery up to this month. We'll see.

It will be interesting to compare and contrast the Model S Plaid with the Lucid Air Dream Edition when we get both in the garage. The horsepower of the two are essentially identical, but Tesla is not releasing torque figures. Without lengthy battery preparation and special tires and road surface, the Tesla has been tested at around 2.2-2.3 seconds 0-60. The Dream is claiming <2.5 seconds. (A draw for normal driving conditions?) The Tesla will have an air suspension and the Lucid a coil spring suspension, with both riding on 21" wheels with staggered tires of identical sizes. The Tesla will have rear axle torque vectoring via two motors; Lucid will do torque vectoring with brake modulation. The Tesla will have acoustic glass and (via a later software update) active noise cancellation. The Lucid will have neither. The Tesla will have a 22-speaker sound system and the Lucid a 21-speaker system with Dolby Atmos. Both will have glass roofs, with the Lucid having a more encompassing design. And, of course, the Tesla will have the controversial yoke steering. We did not order Full Self Driving for the Tesla, as both of us prefer to do the driving ourselves.

Color-wise the cars will be almost polar opposites. We're getting the Plaid with a white exterior and black interior and blacked out exterior trim. The Dream will be a black exterior and Santa Monica (light beige) interior, with bright aluminum roof rails.

Domestic debates to come . . . .

 

[Lucken]

I guess it depends on the importance you place on 0-60 times. For me it's close to irrelevant as long as it's 'fast enough'.

Of course 'fast enough' is a loose terms that has a myriad of meanings to different people. My E-Tron at 5.5 seconds is 'fast enough' for me (I'm not racing on N.Y.'s Long Island Expressway). For others it's too slow. The more important criteria for me is the luxury quotient, build & ride quality and quietness. When I was younger my values were much different.

I'm sure you'll love the Tesla and it will be interesting to hear your comparisons to the Lucid. I look forward to it. Best of luck with the Tesla!

 

[hmp10]

I guess it depends on the importance you place on 0-60 times.

For me they're a rough proxy for how responsive a car feels when modulating speed in traffic, which is something I do almost constantly.

Both the Tesla and the Lucid will be well beyond any sane "fast enough" test, even for me. However, as Tesla tends to overhype its acceleration through all kinds of marketing stratagems and Lucid appears to take a lower-key approach, I'm interested to see how the cars compare in real-world responsiveness.

 

[hmp10]

FWIW, just found a couple more specs on the Tesla Model S Plaid: weight is 4,766 pounds, torque is 1,050 lb-ft.

 

[WildRide47]

Jul 21, 2021 - 04:56 pmLucid Motors plans to launch in Germany in 2022
Other European markets will follow suit.
AIRBEVEUROPEGERMANYLUCID MOTORS

California-based electric car startup Lucid Motors plans to begin delivering its cars in Germany next year, as the new Country Manager Roberto Russo, confirmed to electrive. Also in 2022, the Air sedan is to arrive in other European countries too.
That Lucid was planning to enter the German market had been rumoured for a few days. Russo himself had announced on LinkedIn that he would become Lucid Motors’ Country Manager Germany with immediate effect. In an interview with electrive.net, Russo now concretized the plans. “We want to start delivering our cars in Germany in 2022,” Russo said. “Later this year, we will announce more details about our European market entry.” In addition to Germany, Lucid plans to serve markets such as the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium and Denmark.
Until then, he said, the company will focus on producing and launching the Lucid Air in the United States. Lucid had unveiled the production version of the Air in September 2020. In the states, the two top versions, ‘Grand Touring’ (for the maximum range of 832 kilometres) and ‘Dream Edition’ (for the maximum power of 794 kW), are to be offered first prices starting at $139,000 and $169,000, respectively. Later, the ‘Tour’ (starting at $95,000) and the Air’s base trim ‘Pure’ will follow at prices starting at $77,400, before subsidies.
Russo, an e-mobility specialist, did not yet want to confirm exactly which versions of the Air will be offered in Europe. In 2012, he joined Tesla as sales manager for the European launch of the Model S and later worked as a freelance sales expert advising other automakers on the sale and launch of their EV models.
What is certain is that the vehicles will come from the company’s own plant in Casa Grande, Arizona. The first expansion is already underway to create capacity for the brand’s second model – the Gravity e-SUV, which uses the same LEAP (Lucid Electric Advanced Platform) platform as the Air.
As a technical feature, Lucid relies on a 900-volt system for the Air, which should enable even faster charging times. A 20-minute charge stop is said to deliver power for 300 miles (482 kilometres) to the battery – 113 kWh in the top two models. In addition, the Air is said to reduce power consumption with good aerodynamics (CW value of 0.21). There are no details on the SUV model here yet.
As reported, Lucid Motors sells its vehicles directly only, without intermediary dealers. Nine ‘Lucid Studios’ are planned in the USA – a different sales strategy for Europe would be a surprise. Service centres are also to be set up at the locations of the studios.

 

[hmp10]

The Tesla will have an air suspension and the Lucid a coil spring suspension, with both riding on 21" wheels with staggered tires of identical sizes.

Correction: The Plaid will have 265mm wide tires up front and 295mm wide tires in the rear. Lucid is showing 245/265 widths front and rear on its website.

 

[hmp10]

Tesla has suspended deliveries of the new Model S across the nation for unspecified reasons. Not only are cars not leaving the factory, but cars already in service centers and scheduled for delivery to customers are being held back. Tesla HQ has released no information about this suspension, but customers are several delivery centers report they are being given differing stories, with some service centers saying it's to initiate new inspection procedures and others saying they are not aware of the reasons.

No customers who are have already received their cars are reporting a recall notice, but one customer who was trying to pressure the service center to release his car said he was asked why he was so insistent, as he would only have to bring it back in.

Speculation about the delay is rife, with the bleakest scenarios referring to a recent fire in which a Model S Plaid burst into flames while being driven on a public highway. The owner found the doors inoperable and had to "break out" of the car by unspecified means. Moments later the car was engulfed by the fire, although the owner said the car was moving while unoccupied.

Between Lucid, Rivian, Mercedes EQS, and now Tesla, it seems no one can get a new model EV out the door anywhere near on schedule at present.

 

[Lucken]

These delays do seem endemic to the species.

 

[hmp10]

Tesla lifted the hold on deliveries late yesterday afternoon but gave no explanation of the cause. It appears to have lasted about a week. We are now scheduled to take delivery of a Plaid between August 7 and 21. We'll see.

There's been some speculation that Lucid would get more specific about its delivery schedules once the CCIV merger was approved, although I see no reason why the merger should affect such a consideration at this point. A car has reportedly been submitted to official EPA testing, so it would appear at least one final production car has been built. The next step is probably to get some cars into the hands of auto journalists. More waiting . . . .

 

[hmp10]

Rawlinson is still being cagey about start of production in an interview given after the CCIV/LCID merger. The headline of the video reads, "CEO Eyes Q4 for Vehicle Delivery", however, and he didn't quite say that -- just that pretty much only Dream Editions would come off the line this year. He said that they are currently building "production cars", which he shortly afterward referred to as "quality elevation cars" meant to get the production line to the quality level required for customer deliveries:

Meanwhile, over at Tesla . . .

There is still confusion about what is going on with deliveries of the new Model S. Late last Friday afternoon some customers whose deliveries had been delayed received calls that the hold had been lifted and they could pick their cars up Monday. However, on Sunday morning other customers got calls that their cars that were scheduled for delivery the next day were being put on hold. Tesla has still said nothing officially about the hold. As every Service Center that has been called is giving a different reason for the hold, the conclusion is that Tesla is not informing their sales force of the reason for the delays.

However, a video posted by a Model S buyer on July 11 after his new Model S with 108 miles on it had a main battery failure received comments from several other owners who had experienced the same thing. Their complaints ranged from complete power shutdown (including doors that would not open) on the roadway, to total battery pack failure, to power output being cut back in certain drive modes in which that should not happen. And, of course, there was the conflagration that burned a new Plaid to a cinder along the side of a roadway.

Once again, Tesla has released a new model without having thoroughly vetted its sales readiness. Although I am frustrated with Lucid's and Rivian's repeated delivery delays, this really brings home to me how wise those companies are to take extraordinary measures to avoid these production messes in which Tesla repeatedly finds itself . . . and somehow gets by with among the fanboy crowd. (There were actually commenters who railed against the poster of the July 11 video for putting out information that reflected badly on Tesla.)

 

[Lucken]

Tesla's continued failure to grasp the importance of QC, despite Musk's assertion that this must be addressed at Tesla, is what would keep me from being a repeat customer. I couldn't agree more with your comment about it being wise to take extraordinary measures to avoid these production messes.

And yes, having been a frequent poster on TMC during my Tesla ownership days, heaven forbid you post something critical about your Tesla. Stand back, you will be showered with derogatory comments.

BTW, aside from the horrendous miking of Rawlinson, making him difficult to understand, I thought it was interesting when he said that nobody can test drive the car outside of Lucid 'for legal reasons'.

 

[hmp10]

. . . I thought it was interesting when he said that nobody can test drive the car outside of Lucid 'for legal reasons'.

Agree. I've also heard Derek Jenkins say the same thing. Lucid could avoid some liability issues by having a journalist sign a waiver before driving the car. This is probably what Mercedes did when it turned a pre-production EQS over to journalists to drive without MB employees' even being in the car. (One unaccompanied journalist drove the car from NYC to Philly and back.)

Either this claim about "legal reasons" is just a dodge, or perhaps there is a clause in Lucid's insurance that excludes liability coverage for third parties should the car not be driven by a Lucid employee?

At least Rawlinson said in this interview that journalists would be able to drive the car "very soon".

And that will be . . . when?

 

[Alex]

Here's an idea regarding the "liability" argument: Update insurance coverage.

 

[hmp10]

"Bear's Workshop", which has been in a dispute with Lucid about drone flyovers of the Casa Grande factory, recently posted a video that contained a clip of a conversation with a landscape worker on the site. Obviously, you have to take anything from such a source with a grain of salt (or maybe a whole box), but the guy's comments were nevertheless interesting.

He claims that Lucid is currently building cars for customers and that 198 of them have already been delivered to executives and major investors. These comments begin at the 1:12 time mark:

On another note, our new Tesla Model S Plaid is scheduled for delivery August 8-15. Can't wait to get the Lucid Air Dream Edition into the garage with it so that we can really compare the cars.

 

[Lucken]

So if 198 have already been built and are therefore in 'finalized' form, why haven't any gone to reviewers? Allegedly the car wasn't in finalized form and that was the rationale (or at least one of them) for not letting reviewers do their thing. Color me a bit skeptical.

Best of luck on the new Plaid!

 

[hmp10]

Yep . . . as I said, take the comments with a big dose of salt. On the other hand, when asked about the auto press getting their hands on cars for independent testing, Rawlinson did say in an interview last week that they would "very soon". Rawlinson also recently said that the car is now locked into final production form and that they are currently building "quality elevation" cars, which I assume is more about production fine tuning than engineering and design.

That "very soon" comment caused me to call Lucid sales to see if there was any update. While they stayed coy about specifcs, I was told that it wouldn't be long before I was contacted about final order configuration. I could get nothing beyond that, however.

I got the vibe that something is imminent, but it could be just my hope talking to my ears.