Ordering and Delivery: Lucid Air Touring

[joec]

Anyone else get the impression that progress has slowed? In the last two days there haven’t been many new VINS or delivery updates on this tracker. I’m concerned that the EOY delivery prospects are dimming. Hopefully this isn’t another case of over promising and under performing.

VINs tend to come in batches, as far as I can tell. Rather than a steady stream. Could be a beginning of the week thing.

As far as progress for me goes, I have heard nothing since getting my VIN on Monday, but that’s to be expected. I had a couple of back and forth calls with Lucid Financial about my application. (Since I’m self-employed I expected that.) Also got my insurance squared away. (Quote was pleasantly not much higher than my Model 3.) Expecting the financing to get squared away today or Monday. And then it’s a matter of whenever PDI is done and the car makes it to Denver. Hoping for sometime next week or the week after.

It’s definitely nerve wracking; a ton of waiting, then news, then more waiting, then more news, and so on. I am hoping more of us are close to the finish line than it appears.

 

[MScott]

VINs tend to come in batches, as far as I can tell. Rather than a steady stream. Could be a beginning of the week thing.

As far as progress for me goes, I have heard nothing since getting my VIN on Monday, but that’s to be expected. I had a couple of back and forth calls with Lucid Financial about my application. (Since I’m self-employed I expected that.) Also got my insurance squared away. (Quote was pleasantly not much higher than my Model 3.) Expecting the financing to get squared away today or Monday. And then it’s a matter of whenever PDI is done and the car makes it to Denver. Hoping for sometime next week or the week after.

It’s definitely nerve wracking; a ton of waiting, then news, then more waiting, then more news, and so on. I am hoping more of us are close to the finish line than it appears.

Joe, whats the latest from LUCID Financial on rates? Thanks

 

[varunr82]

Anyone else get the impression that progress has slowed? In the last two days there haven’t been many new VINS or delivery updates on this tracker. I’m concerned that the EOY delivery prospects are dimming. Hopefully this isn’t another case of over promising and under performing.

Even I have the same feeling. With these many cars being built, I was almost certain that we would have the vehicle delivered by EOY. But the way things are moving.. I would say crawling... It's not likely to happen by this year end. Again last week of Dec, holidays and all coming.. so I am not expecting much to happen from Christmas.

 

[joec]

"Existing EV industry standard? There is no such thing."
In layman terms, features we take for granted these days. I can name hundreds of them from basics to advanced but no point arguing on that.

"Wait, you think when all software gets written, it’s just freely publicly available to anyone else who wants it?"
Not sure if you understood what I meant by writing from scratch. I won't start writing an operating system with MS-DOS in mind rather my thought process would be "How to write a better/more advanced operating system than UNIX/MAC/windows or others existing in the industry".

"Open source is a thing, but if you think Tesla is open sourcing anything you are sadly very mistaken"
Just a quick review of open source patents from Tesla and patent pledge agreement will reveal everything there is! But your interpretation is sadly your opinion not a fact. Many startups can benefit from it and it'll be a win-win situation. That's my opinion.

Your comparison of i3 software to Tesla regarding cabin temperature is something very vague. If i3 was that superior, I wonder its non-existence. Not saying you didn't have an issue with Tesla but that's not the discussion here. No one wants cars manufacturers to start with tapes and slowly move on to wireless CarPlay or Android Auto... I can take tons of examples.

There's no point trolling me. Let's make it constructive for the forum.

Okay. Since Windows and macOS already exist, go ahead and build me a new OS from scratch. I’ll look forward to you being done by what, Monday? Should be enough time, right? And it will be fully featured with everything macOS and Windows can currently do.

My point is, just because others have written software doesn’t mean you magically get to benefit from all their hard work. Sure, you can see the end product and steal ideas, but you still have to put in the work and write your own code. Lucid is moving remarkably fast now, given their troubled early start. They need time to actually write all these features, though. The source code of existing features of other car manufacturers aren’t freely available to just anyone.

Also, I have made no comparisons of i3 to anything. I think you are confusing me with someone else.

 

[joec]

Joe, whats the latest from LUCID Financial on rates? Thanks

It’s still hovering in the high 5s. Depending on all the usual factors.

 

[joec]

Joe, whats the latest from LUCID Financial on rates? Thanks

At the end of the day, I decided to go with the lease. I know, the residual isn’t great. But given how close we’re cutting it with the tax rebate, I really liked the idea of Lucid just taking the $7500 off the top right now. Once that’s approved, I’m guaranteed for 45 days. So if they don’t get it to me by EOY now, that’s their problem.

I fully plan to just buy out the lease at the end of the term. Unless I really hate the car by then, which is pretty unlikely.

 

[lsbuffs]

VINs tend to come in batches, as far as I can tell. Rather than a steady stream. Could be a beginning of the week thing.

As far as progress for me goes, I have heard nothing since getting my VIN on Monday, but that’s to be expected. I had a couple of back and forth calls with Lucid Financial about my application. (Since I’m self-employed I expected that.) Also got my insurance squared away. (Quote was pleasantly not much higher than my Model 3.) Expecting the financing to get squared away today or Monday. And then it’s a matter of whenever PDI is done and the car makes it to Denver. Hoping for sometime next week or the week after.

It’s definitely nerve wracking; a ton of waiting, then news, then more waiting, then more news, and so on. I am hoping more of us are close to the finish line than it appears.

My car is sitting built in Casa Grande. Waiting for it to make its way to Scottsdale for inspection and delivery. I've executed the purchase agreement but, despite being "invited" to pay, haven't yet made payment. No word from DA on when the vehicle may complete the 62.3 mile trek from the factory to the delivery center.

 

[LucidNJ]

VINs tend to come in batches, as far as I can tell. Rather than a steady stream. Could be a beginning of the week thing.

As far as progress for me goes, I have heard nothing since getting my VIN on Monday, but that’s to be expected. I had a couple of back and forth calls with Lucid Financial about my application. (Since I’m self-employed I expected that.) Also got my insurance squared away. (Quote was pleasantly not much higher than my Model 3.) Expecting the financing to get squared away today or Monday. And then it’s a matter of whenever PDI is done and the car makes it to Denver. Hoping for sometime next week or the week after.

It’s definitely nerve wracking; a ton of waiting, then news, then more waiting, then more news, and so on. I am hoping more of us are close to the finish line than it appears.

@joec always makes me feel more optimistic. My DA has been more of a "feel free to contact me whenever you want, but once I hear something, I'll reach out to you right away" kind of guy. When I last spoke to him a week ago, it was VIN assignment 1st to 3rd week of December. For those of you that received your VIN, did contacting your DA do anything in terms of speeding up that process. I am also incessantly checking my Lucid account to see if the payment button shows up on my order page, but so far no changes. Here's to hoping that fully-loaded White/Tahoe AT is on its way to me sometime in the next 29 days!

 

[LucidNJ]

I keep checking to see if the existing inventory page is updated with a White/Tahoe 19" wheels AGT as I keep throwing around the idea of paying the extra 30k to get a GT and the tax credit vs. hoping i'll get my Touring before EOY. 30k isn't anything to sneeze about, which is why I want it to at least be my color combination and therefore the car I wanted. Decisions, decisions.

 

[joec]

I keep checking to see if the existing inventory page is updated with a White/Tahoe 19" wheels AGT as I keep throwing around the idea of paying the extra 30k to get a GT and the tax credit vs. hoping i'll get my Touring before EOY. 30k isn't anything to sneeze about, which is why I want it to at least be my color combination and therefore the car I wanted. Decisions, decisions.

I did the same, out of curiosity, when they first posted. Was glad to see no whites there, so no temptation. Not an option for me anymore, anyway, since my car has completed production. But if I hadn’t finalized yet, meaning the $7500 was off the table for me…

 

[jdbeachbum]

I did the same, out of curiosity, when they first posted. Was glad to see no whites there, so no temptation. Not an option for me anymore, anyway, since my car has completed production. But if I hadn’t finalized yet, meaning the $7500 was off the table for me…

It appears to me that 2 weeks from VIN is about delivery time. I received my VIN 11/21 and car has gone through PDI in Chicago and waiting for a ride to Virginia as of 2 days ago. Chillywill75 was 3 days ahead and I thought his had been delivered but waiting for a fix during inspection. Mine could show up any day. Keep the faith.

 

[kvinsk]

Okay. Since Windows and macOS already exist, go ahead and build me a new OS from scratch. I’ll look forward to you being done by what, Monday? Should be enough time, right? And it will be fully featured with everything macOS and Windows can currently do.

My point is, just because others have written software doesn’t mean you magically get to benefit from all their hard work. Sure, you can see the end product and steal ideas, but you still have to put in the work and write your own code. Lucid is moving remarkably fast now, given their troubled early start. They need time to actually write all these features, though. The source code of existing features of other car manufacturers aren’t freely available to just anyone.

Also, I have made no comparisons of i3 to anything. I think you are confusing me with someone else.

Sorry, got confused on i3 with someone else

You're giving Lucid 15 yrs and counting to get their product right and 3 days for me. Not fair! Also didn't mean to steal other's code but just bcos Mercedes invented One-touch 3 blink turn signals doesn't mean other manufactures who have them now, stole it.

So couple of aspects from manufacturers perspective,
1) Roll out the car in a rush with buggy software to deal with it later? Didn't fly well with many.
2) Roll out a car with software that's competing with existing Ev's and improve going forward with new features? Sounds right and customers will support like they did to Tesla.

Reminds me of HTC Thunderbolt, first LTE phone in the market back in the days that was horrible to use; battery drain in 2 Hrs, coupled with terrible Android software. Everyone was bashing Apple for delaying LTE in their phones by 2 yrs. But Apple got it right.

Don't get me wrong Joe! Being a stockholder, I want Lucid to succeed but It's a very competing segment and software is the most important part of EV's.

 

[speed]

Does anyone know if you can remove DDPro option if the cars are not delivered by EOY? I really have no use for it, but I added it for the fact that it will bring delivery before EOY and make it eligible for the tax credit.

 

[hitmanray]

I'll be honest, this has been such a roller coaster for me. Still no sign of a VIN on my QG so the chance of the rebate is very slim. But as expressed here previously I find that very annoying, given that I had one of the earliest Touring reservations.

But I get it, production decisions had to be made. I may not agree with them (particularly the choice to build a bunch of GTs on spec without confirmed orders, and the choice to try and build a handful of Pure's of a unique color which most of us will know is not a slam dunk given the issues they had getting Cosmos Silver right earlier this year) but it is what it is.

My next big challenge is gonna be what if I don't get it by year end? I changed from Mojave to Santa Cruz to try and get '22 deliver. I will certainly want to undo that. And I'm not sure I would stick with DDPro. It was a marginal for me anyway given that we don't do much highway driving (but I do want the surround view stuff) and it may well be a better choice to de-spec that and save the $9k effectively offsetting the tax credit that I'm not getting because they can't deliver by year end.

Trying to just stay chill and roll with it. I know Lucid have been weird about changes once finalized, but I am sure they will make some allowances vs losing a customer.

I know they were put in a bind by the tax rebate changes, but I still think they made some odd business decisions given the challenges they faced.

 

[joec]

Sorry, got confused on i3 with someone else

You're giving Lucid 15 yrs and counting to get their product right and 3 days for me. Not fair!

So couple of aspects from manufacturers perspective,
1) Roll out the car in a rush with buggy software to deal with it later? Didn't fly well with many.
2) Roll out a car with software that's competing with existing Ev's and improve going forward with new features? Sounds right and customers will support like they did to Tesla.

Reminds me of HTC Thunderbolt, first LTE phone in the market back in the days that was horrible to use; battery drain in 2 Hrs, coupled with terrible Android software. Everyone was bashing Apple for delaying LTE in their phones by 2 yrs. But Apple got it right.

Don't get me wrong Joe! Being a stockholder, I want Lucid to succeed but It's a very competing segment and software is the most important part of EV's.

Apple had plenty of existing products to sell while they were developing iPhone. Lucid had—batteries to formula E. They were taking in billions of investment, and they had a short window to start earning revenue.

I get what you are saying. And I totally agree that they underestimated how important and hard good software would be. But it is what it is. They are shipping cars now, and they have to deal with their early software mistakes while also servicing existing customers. Not ideal.

I guess I’m more of a “what are we doing now” than a “let’s endlessly focus on the past, even through there’s nothing we can do about it” type guy.

As far as I can tell, since they focused on software for real earlier this year they have made tremendous progress. They are still behind where they should be, but I think they have the right team in place now to make things happen. Just as they did on the production side. As a stockholder myself, that gives me a positive outlook on the long term play. They have some storms to weather short term, but I never expected to lake money on LCID for at least another 5-10 years.

 

[MorganB]

Anyone else get the impression that progress has slowed? In the last two days there haven’t been many new VINS or delivery updates on this tracker. I’m concerned that the EOY delivery prospects are dimming. Hopefully this isn’t another case of over promising and under performing.

I received the invite to finance with Lucid Financial last night. If the forum is correct that is indicative of production or VIN assignment. I’ll report back whenever I hear from my DA. It’s early in California still.

 

[Sid432]

Apple had plenty of existing products to sell while they were developing iPhone. Lucid had—batteries to formula E. They were taking in billions of investment, and they had a short window to start earning revenue.

I get what you are saying. And I totally agree that they underestimated how important and hard good software would be. But it is what it is. They are shipping cars now, and they have to deal with their early software mistakes while also servicing existing customers. Not ideal.

I guess I’m more of a “what are we doing now” than a “let’s endlessly focus on the past, even through there’s nothing we can do about it” type guy.

As far as I can tell, since they focused on software for real earlier this year they have made tremendous progress. They are still behind where they should be, but I think they have the right team in place now to make things happen. Just as they did on the production side. As a stockholder myself, that gives me a positive outlook on the long term play. They have some storms to weather short term, but I never expected to lake money on LCID for at least another 5-10 years.

@joec - long term play is how many years? I am thinking to add additional 100 shares to avg down but in deep red ATM (I knew that I would hold for at least 3 years but does your opinion differ on this)

 

[ikonos]

Lucid is marketing inventoried GT to the reservation holders who are impatient and may want to take the plunge. It is a good idea to get few of those out but they should really focus on their deliveries after constant chatter about all the loaded Tourings will be delivered by EOY. I was one of those on the fence between Pure and Touring for value purposes and finalized Touring so I can get it sooner.

 

[kvinsk]

but I never expected to lake money on LCID for at least another 5-10 years.

Me neither! I'm a long term investor, actually thinking of doubling down on Lucid stock right now. I don't care about the stock as long as the product is solid. Customers value that and it pays back in long run.
In fact, I'm a walking Ad for Lucid and made many of my friends invest as well based on their tech; Miniature power unit compared to Tesla; 900V charging tech and industry leading drag coefficient. But, I would like to speak out when things aren't going right in a hope that Lucid executives notice it and do the right thing.

 

[hitmanray]

Lucid is marketing inventoried GT to the reservation holders who are impatient and may want to take the plunge. It is a good idea to get few of those out but they should really focus on their deliveries after constant chatter about all the loaded Tourings will be delivered by EOY. I was one of those on the fence between Pure and Touring for value purposes and finalized Touring so I can get it sooner.

Yeah I get why they did it, but it is a cynical play in my book. Building higher spec cars to try to upsell folks rather than building the cars in the order book. I have really been torn, especially since they offered me the original pricing again. But for me it didn't make sense when they offered it in the summer, and it still doesn't. Just now there is a time crunch thrown in.

I'm honestly still not sure if they did build GTs on spec or if they just had a lot of cancellations or refusals to collect. The GT I was offered was made clear to me it was a '22 model year, which didn't bother me, but it would seem to be older inventory given that they have been building '23's for a couple of weeks at least.

Who knows, but it is making me do an awful lot of speculation which is not particularly healthy or making me think good thoughts about Lucid the company.