Your software keeps me from ordering my next Lucid or recommend it to anyone that is not an enthusiast. I understand that no software is perfect at any time, but the issues I and others are having, combined with a lack of fixes, lack of communication, lack of transparency, and a habit of consistently introducing new bugs with each new release, makes me say "no" to my next car being a Lucid. More than that, it makes me recommend against buying a Lucid to everyone that is asking and it's not an enthusiast.
Don't be fooled by the great support, feedback, and leniency that most of the people on this forum have. They are enthusiasts, willing to overlook most issues, because they love the other aspects of the car/brand or lucked out with a problem-free car. But the market that Lucid wants to conquer, that Lucid NEEDS in order to SURIVE, is not made of enthusiasts. It's made of average people that will NOT put up with all the issues that I and others have. Especially when you're paying an average of $90k. Once you get on the radar, you will be eviscerated and it will be very hard to recover from that.
I get it that you cannot get your software right, or at least not in the near future. But at a minimum you need more transparency, more communication, so people know what to expect. Keeping them in the dark will only increase the frustration. Most people here are adults, they can handle bad news. They already chose to take a risk buying your car, so they never expected perfection. Don't drive them away. Be honest with them, and they will understand your pains, make them believers.
Continuing with this strategy will work against you. It's math. A brand enthusiast will recommend Lucid to 10 other people. As it happens in life, all 10 will consider, but only 1 will buy. Now think of an unhappy owner. They will recommend against buying a Lucid to 10 people. Most probably that 10 out of 10 will not buy. Moreover, as people love to exaggerate and complain even though they never experienced a Lucid, they will start recommend against it while sipping on their Chardonnay at the next party in San Diego - just to show how knowledgeable and trendy they are. You have an snowball effect, that might or not be fair, but bad news spreads like fire nowadays. In my 7 months with Lucid, I already had 2 acquittances coming out of nowhere, looking at me like I was crazy for driving a Lucid, based on the "feedback" they got from a third cousin of an uncle of a step brother that had issues with their Lucid. Imagine how many times they said that to others.
I don't pretend to have solutions for the pickle you are in. I'm just providing feedback and (unsolicited) opinion, as someone that can hold two thoughts in their head at the same time: 1) I love the Lucid brand, and my AGT; 2) I cannot recommend it to the non-enthusiast crowd that we're hosting one a month. Moreover, if they are asking, I would recommend against it, because I don't think they will be willing to put up with the issues I dealing with.
I am leading my 5th engineering group, in just as many companies, and I know how tough it is to get it right, especially on a time and budget crunch. As an Executive, the buck stops with me, regardless who screwed up or what happened. The board, or the CEO doesn't care, that's why they are paying me, they want solutions.
The only thing that helped, even when I did not have a solid solution for a given issue, was transparency and communication. People will still hate the issue, but they will understand what's behind it, the constraints that I am dealing with. That builds trust. And sometimes trust acts like an investment that keeps you solvent, until you can fix the core issues.
I hope that your current strategy will work and I will be proven wrong, as just another rambling mouth. I would love nothing more than this brand to succeed. Break a leg
