Lucid needs to market and grab disenchanted Model S owners

[Spin Doctor]

I was a disenchanted Tesla owner. Had two Model S's, a 2015 and a 2020. Loved them both. But I got sick and tired of the "So you drive a Tesla, huh? What do you think of Elon Musk?" conversation.

Plus I like new and shiny things, which is probably the real reason I switched

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

It's simple.

Lucid is better.

 

[MJAir23TheGoat]

It's simple.

Lucid is better.

The Air is better overall car absolutely true.
I will remain a fan of both brands and continue ownership in both stocks.
I happen to like both companies despite what misconceptions and innuendos that are out there. Doesn’t bother me one bit what said choices represent or what others may think of choice. It’s none of my business what others may think of my choices.

 

[joec]

This post is eerily timely.

Yesterday I pulled into my office's parking lot, which has a few EV Level 2 chargers that are free to use for employees. Upon parking at an EV spot, as per usual, I popped open the frunk lid (to retrieve my briefcase) and charger door from inside, got out, and was in the process of hooking up the charger when out of the corner of my eye I saw someone approaching me from the other side of the parking lot. I turned and saw a sweet older lady who had to have been well into her 70s, trotting towards me with a noticeable pep in her step. Despite her age, she moved with the energy of a puppy, which wasn't all that surprising given that here in Colorado, we have tons of elderly people that remain quite spry due to our outdoor culture; the Merrill trail runners she was wearing on her feet, supported this.

"Is that a Lucid?!" she exclaimed, loud enough for other people in the parking lot to turn and look over at us. "Sure is" I responded, surprised that she knew what it was. She was quite excited to see it, explaining that she has had a Model S for many years and while she loved it, began to tire of having to explain to friends that she was not an Elon Musk fan. She went on to describe a few situations in the past where she had to defend herself to friends and family that assumed she had similar political/social views of Elon, and that the thought of driving a Tesla was beginning to make her "skin crawl". I laughed, and expressed my agreement with her, saying that I wouldn't own a Tesla if I was given one for free for all the reasons she stated and more, including their legendarily poor build quality and customer service.

Of course, I opened the Air up and invited her to climb into the interior, which she excitedly accepted - I really got a kick out of that too, since most people tend to decline, at least the first invite, as a matter of politeness. Not this lady, though - she hopped in almost before I could finish getting the words out. She sat in every seat of the Air, touched every switch, flicked the steering wheel knobs, raised and lowered the pilot panel, slid the center console door back and forth, etc. I showed her the frunk and trunk, lifted up the false floor highlighting the space and she just marveled at the cargo capacity. "I could fit a lot of Alpo in there!", she blurted. I grinned in amusement watching this elderly woman soak in the Air's interior with the focused joy and curiosity of a toddler playing with an object they'd never seen before.

As she felt every surface and interacted with every switch and button, she "ooh-ed" and "aah-ed", reveling in the quality. "My Tesla definitely doesn't feel this nice!", she said as she was about to get out from the passenger seat. I told her that was a major reason why a Tesla was never in the cards for me since I'm a bit of a stickler for the finer details in cars, being a gearhead and all.

I then offered to take her for a spin and her eyes immediately sparkled. "Wait, let me get in the back seat - that's where my family would be if I bought one of these. I want to feel it from their perspective". She lept into the seat behind the driver seat and immediately marveled at the space. "Is your seat all the way up?! I can't touch the back of your seat!" she laughed as she leaned forward, trying to touch the front seat back with her hands and fingers stretched. "Nope, this is set to how I always drive", I replied. "Wow, you're HUGE, too! I can't believe I have this much space!" While I'm a bigger guy at over 6" 2' and with a bodybuilder frame, I'm certainly not huge (George Foreman is HUGE. An NFL O-Line player is HUGE. I'm not.), but she was a very petite woman. I just laughed and away we went.

I took the normal drive around the office park, which consists of the typical roads in such places: concrete divided streets, boulevards with speed limits around 45mph, gentle, meandering curves, office park cul de sacs, and the like. Matching her enthusiasm, I drove the Air in a spirited manner (as one does) and it was just what the doctor ordered; she squealed with glee with every g-force induced turn and poke at the accelerator pedal. I got onto the highway and cruised a bit at 95mph, which is very easy to do in my neck of the woods as most traffic is traveling at 85 on our 75mph highways. "How fast do you think we're going?" I asked her. "Oh, about 70, I'd say". "Really, why don't you have a look", I told her. In the rear view mirror, I saw her lean over, squint, and then her eyebrows raised. "Wow, this is a really quiet car! I had no idea! My Tesla sounds like a barn in a tornado on the highway". I could barely stifle my laughter as I headed back to the office.

Upon getting out, she thanked me for taking the time and I expressed my pleasure at being able to show off my car to someone who was truly an enthusiast. Notably, she said that while she was wanting to get out of a Tesla because of Elon, after being in the Lucid, she now knew "what [she'd] been missing out on", remarking that the build quality and refinement was "no comparison". She asked me where she could get more info on the Air and I directed her to the Cherry Creek Mall location of the Denver Lucid showroom and told her to speak to Danny, my sales consultant. She beamed and skipped away to her white Model S on the other side of the parking lot.

The whole situation left me tickled all day, not just because of the Lucid enthusiasm, but because the woman was such a fun little firecracker of a person. Zoomed out a bit, however, I couldn't help but remark that the whole situation reminded me of the types of buyers that Tesla has, and that many of them are the forward-thinking, progressive types of people who originally bought a Tesla for its technology and environmental friendliness. As Elon has "gone down the rabbit hole and wearing tin foil hats" (her words), Tesla buyers like this are feeling alienated and even attacked in their social circles which has some - like this lady - wanting to rid themselves of their connection to the brand.

Great story.

 

[xponents]

Great story.

Agreed. @cgm9999 , as seen in your other posts, you are a GREAT writer!

 

[Batteryman]

i’m not sure how many disenchanted Tesla orders there are.

Having built itself a loyal (some will say cult-like) fanbase over the past decade and a half, Tesla now has the highest retention rate in the automotive industry, estimated to be at a sky-high 87%. High retention is a goal that most automakers spend their days chasing. lucid is the better car overall, but each company is going to build a fan base of loyalist this may start with the gravity for Lucid.

Wonder what the model S retention rate is and how competition from other luxury EV’s affected it. Model 3 is pretty high, since it hardly has a good competitor.

 

[Lucken]

Extremely well written, and spot on. My wife won’t buy a BMW because of the connotation (now they suck, but even when they didn’t). And she refused to look at the Mustang Mach-E simply because it had Mustang in the name.

People absolutely make choices based on how the brand represents them.

In your opinion.

 

[hmp10]

I don’t think anybody buys a car or doesn’t buy because of a CEO. He’s been controversial for the last eight years. The left used to love him / now the right loves him.
It doesn’t matter if you have a good product/good price point value buyers will purchase.
It’s like saying people won’t buy a lucid because of owner base. A good product is a good product and most people don’t really care.

A friend in Florida asked me last week if I would mind talking to an old friend of his in Michigan about how I liked our Lucid. When the lady called me, the first thing she told me was that they had a 2017 Model S, wanted to buy a newer EV, but neither she nor her husband would consider another Tesla because of Elon Musk's increasingly bizarre behavior. For this reason they had made an appointment for a trip to a Lucid Design Studio and wanted to hear what I thought of Lucid before their visit.

My brother has a 2018 Model 3 and was waiting to replace it with a Model Y once they come out with the pending suspension change to tame the buckboard ride. However, over the past few months Musk's nosedive to the bottom of the cesspool in which he has long been floating has turned him off to the brand, and he is now waiting for the launch of Lucid's coming mid-size CUV.

We are on our second Tesla but will never buy another for the same reason.

I know this is anecdotal, but saying nobody would forgo a purchase because of a CEO is simply not true. There's a reason the Ford family worked so hard to erase the memory of Henry Ford's rabid anti-semitism of the 1920's and 1930's. There's a reason the Board of Overstock.com privately forced Patrick Byrne out. There's a reason the Board of the Publix grocery chain disavowed any association with the politics of Publix heiress and former Chairman and President of Publix Charities Carol Jenkins Barnett. I could go on, but suffice it to say that business history is littered with examples of business leaders whose descent into conspiratorial nonsense and vitriol caused their companies to turn on them.

Fortunately for Musk, he has the Tesla Board deep enough in his pocket to countenance his destructive antics. For now.

 

[sri]

A friend in Florida asked me last week if I would mind talking to an old friend of his in Michigan about how I liked our Lucid. When the lady called me, the first thing she told me was that they had a 2017 Model S, wanted to buy a newer EV, but neither she nor her husband would consider another Tesla because of Elon Musk's increasingly bizarre behavior. For this reason they had made an appointment for a trip to a Lucid Design Studio and wanted to hear what I thought of Lucid before their visit.

My brother has a 2018 Model 3 and was waiting to replace it with a Model Y once they come out with the pending suspension change to tame the buckboard ride. However, over the past few months Musk's nosedive to the bottom of the cesspool in which he has long been floating has turned him off to the brand, and he is now waiting for the launch of Lucid's coming mid-size CUV.

We are on our second Tesla but will never buy another for the same reason.

I know this is anecdotal, but saying nobody would forgo a purchase because of a CEO is simply not true. There's a reason the Ford family worked so hard to erase the memory of Henry Ford's rabid anti-semitism of the 1920's and 1930's. There's a reason the Board of Overstock.com privately forced Patrick Byrne out. There's a reason the Board of the Publix grocery chain disavowed any association with the politics of Publix heiress and former Chairman and President of Publix Charities Carol Jenkins Barnett. I could go on, but suffice it to say that business history is littered with examples of business leaders whose descent into conspiratorial nonsense and vitriol caused their companies to turn on them.

Fortunately for Musk, he has the Tesla Board deep enough in his pocket to countenance his destructive antics. For now.

I am out of Tesla because of 50% Musk and other 50% Musk’s fake promises and quality of product.

 

[kaz3320]

Hardware engineering was my deciding factor to get the Lucid Air. It's something tangible I can see, touch and experience.

Same reason why I decided on Lucid. The technical breakdown videos were what sold me. Peter proved to me that he has the knowledge & experience to build the next generation of EVs.

 

[cgm9999]

congrats on your stance. It’s an opinion others might disagree with you. You don’t think there’s cult weirdos for every brand Chevy /Mustang Ferrari /Lamborghini but you decide to call out Tesla and their owners. Thanks for the laugh. let’s keep it real here.
As Tesla/Lucid owner these posts have very much a CERTAIN ring to them. Just sayin’

I think there's quite a distinction between what you seem to be referencing (a "fanboi") and cultish weirdos. I agree that every car brand has its fanboys. Then again, I never said otherwise - your argument is a false equivalency, when two things are inaccurately compared as if they are equivalent, despite having significant differences.

I don't know many car brand fanboys that I would jump to characterizing as cult-like weirdos. However, when it comes to Tesla stans, some of them are just fanboys, and others fall into the cultist camp.

What's the difference? I'd say it's pretty simple. With fanboys, the devotion is to the brand and product itself. This is clear enough; a Tesla fanboy is able to articulate their support of the brand through their devotion to the cars themselves - they might love the tech, styling, ease of ownership, buying experience, charging infrastructure, or any combination thereof, or really, anything else they love about the cars.

Notably, when they express their enthusiasm, a key something is absent - the leap to polico-socio-economic topics to support their position. Once that happens, it's clear you're really dealing with someone that's become intoxicated on the strange ether of Elon's Cult of Personality. See, these are the people that love Tesla not so much because of the cars, but more because of Elon himself. As a lifelong car guy, I've met plenty of fanboys myself. But the funny thing is, none of these people, no matter their blind devotion to their brand, were ever what I'd call cultish weirdos. That's because a cultish weirdo is a more constitutional, all-encompassing phrase to describe someone whose perspective has been so blunted by blind adherence that it affects other aspects of their worldview.

Case in point: My Granddad is a lifelong GM guy. He grew up driving Tri-Fives, Impala SS's, Olds Hurst 442s, etc. He's your typical garden-variety Big 3 domestic fanboy from the midwest - I don't even need to paint the picture because he's "that guy" that everyone pictures when they think of a old white guy with Lee jeans and a Dale Earnhardt hat. When his son, my dad, bought a 1989 Ford Taurus SHO brand new, he just about had a TIA. Over the years, his rigid loyalty to GM led to constant ribbing, particularly, during those long stretches of time when good GM vehicles were, shall we say, slim pickens. In other words, damn near 3 decades give or take. Despite being some of the least competitive vehicles in their class, Granddad always strongly defended his old Luminas, Monte Carlos, Grand Prix's, etc., no matter how many times he had to lemon law them. But, at the end of the day, we still had fun Thanksgivings together, enjoyed each other's company, and relished going to all sorts of car shows together.

Curiously, never did Granddad's defense of his love for GM ever reference "The Red Pill" (an oft-used dogwhistle for zany, conspiracy-loving, fringe populations), calling well-meaning people "Pedo Guy", comparing politicians to Hitler, or referencing positions on immigration, gender identity, or tax policy. Tesla stans? They do it all the time. If you're interested in witnessing some of the more pathetic portions of humanity's potential for depravity, just go find yourself a 4chan, 8kun, etc. Tesla thread.

Similarly, never have any of my conversations with other car guys ever devolve into the fetid, squalid, oubliette that is the mind of a typical Tesla stan. Sure, some are cordial and just love the cars. Others, well, are toilet creatures. Never in my decades of being a car enthusiast, going to car shows, writing for blogs, and consulting with people in the industry have I ever experienced the level of frothing madness that the most devoted Tesla cult members possess.

As for "calling out Tesla and their owners"? It's a thread about disenfranchised Model S owners; it's as topical as it gets. Literally.

 

[FA14]

A lot of Tesla owners will jump ship once NACS is built in to Lucid models.

 

[borski]

As Tesla/Lucid owner these posts have very much a CERTAIN ring to them. Just sayin’

For once, we agree. Your posts certainly do have a ring to them; they sound very much like they belong on a Tesla owners’ forum, which you’re welcome to go peruse and post on.

I think you’ve made the point you wanted to make, and it’s clear others disagree with you. There is no need to try and make the same point again.

 

[borski]

In your opinion.

Sure, obviously; if you’re referring to my jab at BMW.

 

[levsha]

Plenty of people, myself included, won’t buy a Tesla because of the CEO. Actually has nothing to do with his politics, but the very fact that he is not there. He has left Tesla behind, they are floundering, and he is gallivanting about X and Trump.

That’s why I won’t buy a Tesla. There is no leader at the helm, and they have entirely stopped innovating.

IMHO it's even worse: he is mostly not there, but sometimes, when he is there, he just does some completely stupid and destructive things just because of his ego, like removing ultrasonic sensors because "humans rely on vision, so will our cars!", removing gear selector because "it is not required - our cars will automatically figure out direction!", or firing all of supercharger department because the head of department pushed back on more layoffs.

 

[Mcgcruiser]

My lovely, left-of=center 25 year old daughter was THRILLED when I told her I was looking at EV's. Her next words were "You're not buying a TESLA, are you?" I think he's having an impact.

 

[Haggy]

Yes. There are also some who won’t buy Lucid because it is backed by PIF. That number is much smaller, however, than the significant decrease in sales for Tesla because the PIF and Peter is focused on Lucid, and Elon is *not* focused on Tesla.

It’s not just politics.

There are points for and against both companies in that respect. Musk owns about 12% of Tesla. I'm not going to look into the exact number because it changes, but buying a car or not buying one helps or hurts a lot of people more than Musk, who does not need your money. There are tens of thousands of employees, and shares are held by all sorts of people.

With Lucid, the PIF doesn't run the company. They don't design the cars. They don't tell Lucid what to do except to the extent that any company looking to enter a market is going to consider catering to that particular market. While they might hold a very large percentage of Lucid, if anybody is against the Saudis or their leader, the PIF has far more money in other companies. They are big companies whose products and services people use all the time. It's not the percentage but aggregate amounts that matter. Supporting all those other companies gives more money to the Saudis than buying a Lucid.

On the other hand, it's not truly Elon's politics that people have a problem with. I don't know whether Rawlinson is liberal or conservative and it doesn't much matter to me. I do know that he doesn't attack me. Musk attacks a lot of people. It's not that people won't buy because he's not liberal but because he attacks liberals, tells them that they are members of a hate group, attacks Jews, attacks anybody who has been to Thailand by saying that they have sex with children, and all sorts of bizarre things. People can tolerate somebody holding different views, but buying something from somebody who openly attacks you is a different story.

As far as focus. Musk's primary one vis a vis Tesla is promotional, throwing ideas at staff and expecting them to do the work, and making promises that Tesla employees could get fired for pointing out that they can't be done in the promised time frame. Having Elon be more hands on won't fix a lot of those problems. Tesla can survive without Musk being hands on, and might be better off if he's not around much.

Being for free speech and supporting somebody who attacks you are not the same thing.

 

[Lucken]

It would not be unfair to state that there may be some evidence that the Saudis, at some level, aided some that were involved in 9/11. I’m sure I’m closer to 9/11 than most of you since my office was on the 100th floor, north side of Tower 1, a few floors directly above where the first plane went in. Had a client not called me the prior afternoon, asking me to attend a meeting, I would not be writing this. Everyone I worked with that was in that day died a miserable death. My wife got a call that night from HR thinking they were talking to a widow, unaware I was alive. I attended more funerals of coworkers, whose families had nothing to bury, than anyone should have to.

So frankly I get a bit tired of reading why Tesla/Musk has turned off people or hurt their feelings. I bought a 2017 MS when Musk was still a hero of the left. I would not buy another Tesla only because their cars are simply not as good as Lucid’s.

 

[hmp10]

On the other hand, it's not truly Elon's politics that people have a problem with. I don't know whether Rawlinson is liberal or conservative and it doesn't much matter to me. I do know that he doesn't attack me. Musk attacks a lot of people. It's not that people won't buy because he's not liberal but because he attacks liberals, tells them that they are members of a hate group, attacks Jews, attacks anybody who has been to Thailand by saying that they have sex with children, and all sorts of bizarre things. People can tolerate somebody holding different views, but buying something from somebody who openly attacks you is a different story.

Being for free speech and supporting somebody who attacks you are not the same thing.

Superbly stated.

 

[hmp10]

It would not be unfair to state that there may be some evidence that the Saudis, at some level, aided some that were involved in 9/11.

It's worth remembering that Musk was trying to get the Saudis to finance his taking Tesla private in 2018 . . . and falsely claimed the deal was done when it wasn't.

And remember that a certain son-in-law has friendly ties with MBS, ridiculed the notion that MBS had anything to do with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and thereafter landed a $2 billion investment for a new business venture.

If Saudi Arabia is brought any into conversation about EVs, the salient point is not in whom they invest, but that they have the foresight to see the inevitable decline of fossil fuels and are working to diversify their economy to deal with it. Meanwhile, in this country far too many people are much more interested in more oil drilling and trying to resurrect a moribund coal industry than in thinking about the road into a future of inexorably growing energy dependency.