Ordering and Delivery: Lucid Air Touring

[bandari]

I have Ariel in Costa Mesa as my DA, she is very responsive.

Hi Tim, I also ordered Lucid Air Touring, VIN assigned on 12/08. Waiting for Delivery date. My DA also Ariel. Hope to hear back from DA on the exact dates soon.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Hi Tim, I also ordered Lucid Air Touring, VIN assigned on 12/08. Waiting for Delivery date. My DA also Ariel. Hope to hear back from DA on the exact dates soon.

Have you scheduled a call yet? After I was assigned, I scheduled a call. All communication is now by text (which is what I prefer). She has called me if there is more info/details to discuss. She is confident that delivery will happen before EOY! Fingers crossed

 

[Jefferoo]

I also have her as my DA and not responsive at all. Have not responded to any communication in over 2 weeks. I thought she was based out of CA.

Jess is based out if CA but services the NW states. She is my DA as well. Set up a phone call last week and she called 10 mins early and answered all my questions. Professional and informative even though I am not a priority right now (mojave). She apparently responds best to texts rather than emails. No concerns so far.

 

[gunick06]

Hi Tim, I also ordered Lucid Air Touring, VIN assigned on 12/08. Waiting for Delivery date. My DA also Ariel. Hope to hear back from DA on the exact dates soon.

Please keep us updated. My Costa Mesa DA has not responded in over a week now.

 

[nasilemak]

As a company, I want them to underpromise and overdeliver. That means being conservative about sales and production estimates. Setting reasonable expectations for customer deliveries. And so on. They came out of the gate with unrealistic guidance this year, then had to backtrack. What I’m saying is I’d love it if they don’t repeat that mistake this year.

Leave the unrealistic hype to the “other” EV company.

hey joe, i agree with your sentiment here. one thing that is baffling is how can a seasoned CEO with Tesla Model S experience still overpromised and underdelivered knowing that it will only backfire (no way he didn't know right?). one possible explanation is unforeseen challenges but that just means that he wasn't as competent in the first place to plan for them?

FYI, here is the guidance:
Lucid lowered its production guidance from 12,000 to 14,000 vehicles to 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles for the year. That's just a quarter of the 20,000 luxury Air sedans the company initially planned to produce n 2022. In February, Lucid adjusted that loftier goal down to 12,000 to 14,000 vehicles.

 

[borski]

one thing that is baffling is how can a seasoned CEO with Tesla Model S experience still overpromised and underdelivered knowing that it will only backfire (no way he didn't know right?). one possible explanation is unforeseen challenges but that just means that he wasn't as competent in the first place to plan for them?

He wasn’t a CEO prior to this; he was an engineer. For the model S, he was chief engineer; in past roles, he did suspension engineering, etc.

Also, and this is actually the important note: nobody could have predicted the pandemic and the supply challenges that came with it. It’s one thing to spin up a brand new factory and supply line and manufacturing process when the market is open and bustling - that’s *already* hard. It’s entirely another thing to do it in a pandemic when the supply chain is strained and you are the “small fish” compared to all the veteran automakers (including Tesla).

It seems that some of the parts they were trusting would arrive to spec… didn’t. Others simply… didn’t arrive. You can have backup plan after backup plan, but nothing could have anticipated 2020-2022.

Not even Tesla did, as evidenced by their delivering cars without USB ports and hoping to add them later, for example. Lucid couldn’t do something like that because they’d get raked over the coals even more than Tesla did. And what if it wasn’t the USB ports but, say, the cantrails that showed up not to spec? Then you’re either fixing existing suppliers or spinning up entirely new ones - even if you had a backup supplier, it would take time to get those in, etc.

For all the challenges of building a brand new manufacturing process, I imagine those were 100x harder during the pandemic - not just a little harder.

That’s my impression.

 

[gunick06]

He wasn’t a CEO prior to this; he was an engineer. For the model S, he was chief engineer; in past roles, he did suspension engineering, etc.

Also, and this is actually the important note: nobody could have predicted the pandemic and the supply challenges that came with it. It’s one thing to spin up a brand new factory and supply line and manufacturing process when the market is open and bustling - that’s *already* hard. It’s entirely another thing to do it in a pandemic when the supply chain is strained and you are the “small fish” compared to all the veteran automakers (including Tesla).

It seems that some of the parts they were trusting would arrive to spec… didn’t. Others simply… didn’t arrive. You can have backup plan after backup plan, but nothing could have anticipated 2020-2022.

Not even Tesla did, as evidenced by their delivering cars without USB ports and hoping to add them later, for example. Lucid couldn’t do something like that because they’d get raked over the coals even more than Tesla did. And what if it wasn’t the USB ports but, say, the cantrails that showed up not to spec? Then you’re either fixing existing suppliers or spinning up entirely new ones - even if you had a backup supplier, it would take time to get those in, etc.

For all the challenges of building a brand new manufacturing process, I imagine those were 100x harder during the pandemic - not just a little harder.

That’s my impression.

The speed at which they recovered from this is remarkable, IMHO. They are apparently up to 70 cars per day, which puts them at a pace of roughly 17,500/yr if you say there are 250 working days in a year. The real supply chain issues didn’t hit until late last year, so only being one year behind isn’t bad.

 

[lsbuffs]

How was the delivery process? Did you download the lucid and EA apps to your phone before your delivery?

Your mention of the EA app. reminds me that when I took delivery Sunday, the DA didn't (at least as far as I recall) say anything about how to obtain the free EA charging. I set up the app. this morning and see there's an option for an enrollment code.

Should I have received an enrollment code for EA at delivery? Looking for guidance on how to properly set up my account with EA for free charging.

 

[hydbob]

Your mention of the EA app. reminds me that when I took delivery Sunday, the DA didn't (at least as far as I recall) say anything about how to obtain the free EA charging. I set up the app. this morning and see there's an option for an enrollment code.

Should I have received an enrollment code for EA at delivery? Looking for guidance on how to properly set up my account with EA for free charging.

The free EA charging is setup by Lucid and goes through the Lucid app, not the EA App.

 

[lsbuffs]

The free EA charging is setup by Lucid and goes through the Lucid app, not the EA App.

Excellent, thanks. I do see the charging plan set up in the Lucid app.

 

[ScottM]

I received my VIN on 12/13. A little surprised since I did not order DDP.

 

[Halodde]

There is now an employee discount, where there wasn’t before (yay! That’s great! They deserve it!)

And there is a low 2.81% financing rate for GTs and GT-Ps in inventory that are ready to deliver (fantastic!)

Neither of those things are bad, or signs of anything else, and that is all there is.

In general, I agree with you, @borski . However, an argument could be made that it was a mistake to produce GT's beyond their order numbers- that is at the root of their discounts/promotions. They didn't have buyers for the GT cars they produced. Yet they made them anyway. Meanwhile, there are many Touring and Pure reservation holders who desperately want(ed) their vehicles this year and most of us are not going to get them. If they had stopped producing GT's sooner (after they completed the ones that were ordered), they could have switched to Touring sooner and definitely realized the revenue from those vehicles instead of having to try and move completed but not ordered GT's with the promotions. From a business perspective, they took a risk by producing extra GT's presumably because they are more profitable. They could have and possibly should have produced more Touring and Pure vehicles this year instead to guarantee the deliveries and sales revenue. Frustrating for those of us who are not getting our vehicles this year at all and could have if other choices had been made.

 

[hydbob]

In general, I agree with you, @borski . However, an argument could be made that it was a mistake to produce GT's beyond their order numbers- that is at the root of their discounts/promotions. They didn't have buyers for the GT cars they produced. Yet they made them anyway. Meanwhile, there are many Touring and Pure reservation holders who desperately want(ed) their vehicles this year and most of us are not going to get them. If they had stopped producing GT's sooner (after they completed the ones that were ordered), they could have switched to Touring sooner and definitely realized the revenue from those vehicles instead of having to try and move completed but not ordered GT's with the promotions. From a business perspective, they took a risk by producing extra GT's presumably because they are more profitable. They could have and possibly should have produced more Touring and Pure vehicles this year instead to guarantee the deliveries and sales revenue. Frustrating for those of us who are not getting our vehicles this year at all and could have if other choices had been made.

Why is the assumption that they overproduced instead of these being cancelled orders whose specific build isn't one on order for another person?

 

[ikonos]

In general, I agree with you, @borski . However, an argument could be made that it was a mistake to produce GT's beyond their order numbers- that is at the root of their discounts/promotions. They didn't have buyers for the GT cars they produced. Yet they made them anyway. Meanwhile, there are many Touring and Pure reservation holders who desperately want(ed) their vehicles this year and most of us are not going to get them. If they had stopped producing GT's sooner (after they completed the ones that were ordered), they could have switched to Touring sooner and definitely realized the revenue from those vehicles instead of having to try and move completed but not ordered GT's with the promotions. From a business perspective, they took a risk by producing extra GT's presumably because they are more profitable. They could have and possibly should have produced more Touring and Pure vehicles this year instead to guarantee the deliveries and sales revenue. Frustrating for those of us who are not getting our vehicles this year at all and could have if other choices had been made.

Possible they produced them for reservation holders that may have cancelled them. It does not seem like they have 100's of extra GT's but rather tens of them to lend credence to the idea it may be a combination of cancellations and producing few extra in hopes of new orders or convincing some to upgrade.

 

[idiot900]

Also, how many car companies so precisely match production to demand? How many extra GTs are we talking about?

 

[hydbob]

Also, how many car companies so precisely match production to demand? How many extra GTs are we talking about?

11 GT, 7 GTP

 

[xponents]

Also, how many car companies so precisely match production to demand? How many extra GTs are we talking about?

Honestly, I don't think Lucid is going Tesla's way. I think it'll jut be inventory, and you get from car from there. If you dont have it, then custom order it if you want. More like a traditional dealership,but online

 

[xponents]

11 GT, 7 GTP

There is likely more than that

 

[idiot900]

11 GT, 7 GTP

To me those are impressively low numbers…although I wonder what the cumulative totals are.

 

[joec]

Possible they produced them for reservation holders that may have cancelled them. It does not seem like they have 100's of extra GT's but rather tens of them to lend credence to the idea it may be a combination of cancellations and producing few extra in hopes of new orders or convincing some to upgrade.

I also would not assume they purposely extended GT production. It’s possible Touring and Pure production could not be started for supply reasons, and they just kept cranking out GTs in the meantime. Better than building nothing for a few weeks, right?