Lucid Cancelled my Air GT Reservation

[Batteryman]

Come on guys! I patiently sat around for nearly four years, during which time they repeatedly assured me they’d honour my reservation. Then they pulled the plug and didn’t even have the decency to say “sorry”.

They failed to respond to any messages, despite having offered this option.

And then they seem to think that we’ll all sign up for some “future product”.

It’s fine for those of you who have your cars and are fans of the company, but for the rest of us this is an abject lesson in how to turn away potential customers for good.

Now what would I have done if I’d been the bearer of bad news? I don’t think it takes much imagination to provide better damage limitation. How about:-

1. I’d issue a proper apology.

2. I’d offer an honest explanation.

3. I’d offer a goodwill gesture - perhaps an offer of priority on some “future product” queue; or perhaps some Lucid merchandise; at least something to buy some loyalty.

4. For those of us who’ve ended up lending them cash for the best part of 4 years I’d definitely expect some interest. After all, they broke the contract.

5. I’d have the Lucid Europe folks personally call the customers. (That’s what Tesla did when they cancelled their Signature programme in the UK.)

6. And having offered the option of emailing customer support, I wouldn’t then “ghost” anyone who tries to use this.

Think this is unreasonable? I suggest this is a premium product and that customer care is an essential component. If Lucid can’t do customer care, we’ll take our money elsewhere.

Lucid have now alienated their most enthusiastic supporters in the RHD world, so prospects for their “future product “ launch here aren’t looking good.

Sorry, they did what is expected. Move on. This feels like you are upset about the
‘break up”.

 

[Batteryman]

That's my point. If you spend four years telling everyone you're about to enter a market, then abruptly terminate the deposits of your most-loyal and enthusiastic customers, you can't just expect to be able to swan back in any time soon. You've blown away your fan base and you're going to have to work way harder establishing a bridgehead, let alone building sales.

…And let's not forget, the market for SUVs is way more competitive than the market for luxury saloons. I can't see a great fat Lucid "Gravity" (what an unfortunate name) being a roaring sales success this side of The Pond. And what terrible timing, when our home-grown Range Rover EV is about to be launched.

Back to the Lucid Air: I do believe there this is a strong demand for a RHD model (40% of the driving public, remember). I don't know about Australasia, but the UK definitely has a need for premium luxury electric saloons. For luxury EVs, the UK is probably the strongest market in all of Europe (I use Europe in its geographic sense here). When I last looked at sales figures, this was certainly borne out. Yes, Germany is a bigger market overall - but they buy German cars. We don't have such loyalty in the UK. Cue a market opening…

- Traditionally, the wealthier parts of the country (S.E. England is on par with Switzerland in this respect) bought Jaguars (hence the term "Gin and Jag country"), but Jaguar is committing corporate Hari Kari and aiming at Bentley prices for its proposed pink monstrosity.

- When Tesla brought the RHD Model S here, they were swamped with orders. At the launch event in London I was struck by the number of fellow Jaguar owners, switching from their sleek XJs into the similarly-sleek Model S. Indeed, I was often asked if my Model S was a Jaguar. I'm now on my second Model S (I've done 81,000 miles in it) and my wife drives the "Highland" Model 3: an excellent little car BTW.

- Now that there's no RHD version of the Model S, that creates a even greater gap in the market. The Germans haven't managed to close it - Mercedes' jelly-bean EQ saloons aren't popular; and BMW's bricks-on-wheels are the subject of much ridicule; meanwhile VW group has yet to atone for "Dieselgate".

So Lucid had a ready market, and I think that Peter Rawlinson understood this. Sadly, now that the Bean Counters are running the show, I expect that the bigger picture will be lost in short term policy pronouncements aimed at keeping the shareholders happy. The least I say about them the better.

UK is a small volume country, there no point in making a RHD for such small numbers. Maybe for the midsize they will. If EV wasn’t made political by Trump and his minion Republicans, and if COVID, inflation etc did not happen, they might have had enough sales to take the plunge. But if you are selling only 10k-20k a year, doesn’t make sense to reengineer. These things are always fluid….just like the Tesla roadster….but at least the Lucid Air exists…..

 

[Leftlane]

Yes. It would help persuade me that this isn’t yet another faceless corporation and that the company does actually care about its customers.

Disappointing, but your first and most critical mistake is believing that any company cares about you. They care about your money - they don’t know you, don’t care about you, and don’t remember you already. They are all faceless corporations, even though some might do a better job of making you feel like they care about you - but they don’t. They will always do what they think is best for their business, even when you completely disagree or get your feelings hurt. So, suck it up and move on. Let’s see how much Porsche or Tesla really cares about you - but I don’t think you’re gonna like the answer.

 

[fadooly]

Well I think what you are saying does not make any sense … sorry to be harsh

It is not about making RHD car , it is about many things to enter a new country besides making the car like regulations, Building brand infrastructure maintenance center all cost associated, market conditions and may be better opportunities in different countries, we may never know but if I were in your shoes I would not put a deposit in first place until they are actually operational

 

[borski]

That's my point. If you spend four years telling everyone you're about to enter a market, then abruptly terminate the deposits of your most-loyal and enthusiastic customers, you can't just expect to be able to swan back in any time soon. You've blown away your fan base and you're going to have to work way harder establishing a bridgehead, let alone building sales.

…And let's not forget, the market for SUVs is way more competitive than the market for luxury saloons. I can't see a great fat Lucid "Gravity" (what an unfortunate name) being a roaring sales success this side of The Pond. And what terrible timing, when our home-grown Range Rover EV is about to be launched.

Back to the Lucid Air: I do believe there this is a strong demand for a RHD model (40% of the driving public, remember). I don't know about Australasia, but the UK definitely has a need for premium luxury electric saloons. For luxury EVs, the UK is probably the strongest market in all of Europe (I use Europe in its geographic sense here). When I last looked at sales figures, this was certainly borne out. Yes, Germany is a bigger market overall - but they buy German cars. We don't have such loyalty in the UK. Cue a market opening…

- Traditionally, the wealthier parts of the country (S.E. England is on par with Switzerland in this respect) bought Jaguars (hence the term "Gin and Jag country"), but Jaguar is committing corporate Hari Kari and aiming at Bentley prices for its proposed pink monstrosity.

- When Tesla brought the RHD Model S here, they were swamped with orders. At the launch event in London I was struck by the number of fellow Jaguar owners, switching from their sleek XJs into the similarly-sleek Model S. Indeed, I was often asked if my Model S was a Jaguar. I'm now on my second Model S (I've done 81,000 miles in it) and my wife drives the "Highland" Model 3: an excellent little car BTW.

- Now that there's no RHD version of the Model S, that creates a even greater gap in the market. The Germans haven't managed to close it - Mercedes' jelly-bean EQ saloons aren't popular; and BMW's bricks-on-wheels are the subject of much ridicule; meanwhile VW group has yet to atone for "Dieselgate".

So Lucid had a ready market, and I think that Peter Rawlinson understood this. Sadly, now that the Bean Counters are running the show, I expect that the bigger picture will be lost in short term policy pronouncements aimed at keeping the shareholders happy. The least I say about them the better.

I hear what you’re saying, and have no idea if any of it is right.

I can only surmise that Lucid has data that disagrees, and that they didn’t have enough orders to justify the build.

It should be fairly obvious they didn’t cancel it solely to piss people off.

 

[Pragmatic]

I would not put a deposit in first place until they are actually operational

I agree with everything you wrote except this last piece. Without deposits Lucid would have a hard time judging demand. A decent number of deposits would favor moving forward with introducing the car to the UK