Just because nothing is announced doesn't mean that things aren't going on in the background and ready to be switched on the moment its announced.
This is certainly a possibility. But consider "The Road to Lucid Gravity" series. It followed the logical sequence of the vehicle's development, ending with Episode 15's "Final Validation" video, representing the last step before putting the car into production. It was a carefully choreographed buildup toward an announcement, accompanied by the drum roll of final validation before the cymbal crash of a delivery date announcement. And then the drum roll suddenly stopped. The video was taken down, and silence ensued. I hope it's just a fly, but my guess is something has fallen into the ointment.
11 weeks is a long time in the scheme of things. From the snippets of information i've been hearing/reading is it sounds like the moment the announcement happens it could be going straight to order.
As someone who lived through almost four years of sitting out a reservation for the Air (and longer for a Rivian R1S), I understand the logic of going straight from announcement to order. However, I don't see 11 weeks as such a long time. One of the things that got a lot of people comfortable with getting in line for an Air before any were available for test drives was a stream of reviews from an array of reputable auto journalists. Not taking reservations is one thing. It is another thing to expect people to commit to an order for a vehicle most cannot test drive, many cannot even see in the flesh, and without even the independent opinions of seasoned automotive reviewers.
The fact the stores are all getting the swatches etc means we're very close. I would be surprised if Lucid didn't deliver some cars this side of Christmas though.
Actually, the swatches going out to the Design Studios are the same four sets that were at the L.A. Auto Show almost a year ago. Lucid has announced a fifth interior color palette, and nothing has been seen or even described of it yet in public.
You might be right that at least some Gravities will get delivered by Christmas. But my guess is the timeline will be so tight to meet that deadline that they can only get to customers who: pay cash (
i. e., don't need time to arrange financing), live on the West Coast (transport times), and will take cars equipped as they come off the production line without choice of colors or options (no production planning cycle time).
I was hoping we'd have some idea of configurations \ costs by now but also am fully aware that Lucid keeps its cards very close to its chest . . . .
I have almost the opposite impression of Lucid in this regard. With both the Air and the Gravity, I do not remember ever having seen and heard so much from the manufacturer about a vehicle during its development stage. "Throttle House", "Top Gear", and other press outlets were allowed independent drives of beta prototypes, a production-representative version of the car (instead of the usual "concept" vehicle) has been on display at the L.A. Auto Show and other major venues for almost a year, we have been taken on deep dives by Erich Bach and Derek Jenkins on the engineering and design of the car for some months.
I have waited out the arrival of many new cars over the years after their early teases, and never have I known as much about them before their arrival as I have known about the Air and the Gravity. And for this I applaud Lucid heartily.
. . . we all need to be patient for just a little longer.
I spent a career trying to predict outcomes from circumstantial or only partially-revealed information. Unfortunately, it's a habit I now bring to watching Lucid, perhaps a bit too obsessively.
I admit I have been mightily impatient for the arrival of the Gravity for some months. However, lately things have taken on a different color. I am still hopelessly hooked on our Air Dream, but over the past couple of months I have become more mindful of the teething pains I lived through with an early-production Lucid, especially on the software front, but also on quite a few hardware issues. I do not want to go through that again with a Gravity. And, as a stockholder in the company, I do not want Lucid to experience the reputation hit it took for some of those early Air hiccoughs.
Thus I would much rather Lucid take the press hit for delaying Gravity deliveries a bit longer than the much harder and more lasting hit they would take from taking the bread out of the oven too soon this time.
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