Lucid actually already has a lot of the additional information on their side, in their electronic systems, you just have to call and hope you get someone willing to tell you that level of information. I assume they are just being cautious with not over sharing info, but I think the net benefit of even just a little more granularity would help everyone. The dashboard itself was a big step in the right direction, so hopefully they keep improving. As a buyer and an investor, these are the kinds of things I want to see.
As far as in production sub processes …
P1: unknown number of steps, presumably just an “in queue” status that is already reflected by the dashboard migrating to the “in production” phase. I think some of the cars are entering this phase a bit prematurely and causing frustration, but I have no idea
P2: VIN assigned, already reflected in the dashboard
P3: general assembly (car build for ~1 day followed by software installation for 1-2 days). My DA and even the call center knew when I was here. As far as I can tell, there’s some level of QC occurring here, now including the trunk latch issue that was recently identified. I think the 1 day build is impressive and I wouldn’t want that step to be rushed.
P4: built and awaiting transport. My DA emailed me when I hit this mark. For Costa Mesa, I was told 3-7 days is the range, but obviously bad luck here can really slow things down. Presumably the bomb cyclone is one of them. But, it’s clear they are improving in this department as time goes on. I suspect the recent hold (which has already ended) was due to the trunk latch issue; it makes no sense to ship out 100s of cars that will need to be fixed if that’s easily addressable at the factory. I think it’s a good sign they identified the problem and implemented a solution as fast as they did
P5: arrived at service center and awaiting inspection. My DA was out yesterday but will email me when I hit this part. Hopefully I’m there, but I’m only 4 days out from confirmation of the car being built.
P6: PDI. From what I’ve been told, 99% of the cars pass. I think it’s 1-2 days.
Once PDI is complete, the status moves to preparing for delivery, already reflected in the dashboard.
I’m somewhere between P4-P5. I will say that customer service isn’t Lucid’s strong suit at the moment, but the speed at which they ramped up production is very hard to keep up with. It takes time to hire and train people, and most people do not take on new jobs when the holidays are on the horizon. Scaling up is extremely difficult. I recently watched a company do this too fast, and it resulted in a lot of missteps due to lack of training and coordination, which ultimately resulted in law suits that had to be settled.
I would encourage anyone throwing their hands up because they aren’t hearing from their DA to be more proactive if they want EOY delivery. I call, text, and email anytime I want an update (not all at once, but progressively over the course of a few hours). If I don’t hear back, I call and email others, like my SA, the service center where my car is going, and the general call center. You can ask for DA re-assignment. DAs have more power than they are letting on.
Good luck, Everyone
