Review from Detroit Free Press

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A new write up from Detroit's newspaper, by way of the Dallas Morning News. The journalist is one of the North American Car of the Year voters and says that while the Lucid is special, it's current software shortcomings prevent him from voting for it as NACOTY. He and other journalists with him that day had similar software issues to what has been posted here (including getting locked out of their respective cars), so the issues are now out there publicly.

 
A new write up from Detroit's newspaper, by way of the Dallas Morning News. The journalist is one of the North American Car of the Year voters and says that while the Lucid is special, it's current software shortcomings prevent him from voting for it as NACOTY. He and other journalists with him that day had similar software issues to what has been posted here (including getting locked out of their respective cars), so the issues are now out there publicly.

Any chance you can copy and paste the article? The link requires us to sign-up for a digital subscription to the Dallas News. thx
 
Wow that really lays it all out pretty succinctly. Not sure how widespread the Detroit and Dallas newspapers are read, but most likely this information will go viral fairly quickly. Rawlinson will need to have an articulate and informative response ready to go. CNBC will probably pick it up on Monday and be looking to him for commentary.
 
Any chance you can copy and paste the article? The link requires us to sign-up for a digital subscription to the Dallas News. thx
Odd. It worked on my phone buy not my computer. They must not have the pay wall set up correctly for their mobile site. I'll see if I can copy and paste.
 
Odd. It worked on my phone buy not my computer. They must not have the pay wall set up correctly for their mobile site. I'll see if I can copy and paste.

I just "x'd" out of the request to sign up and then I was able to read the article without any problem.
 
This review and the inevitable questions that will arise as more of the media becomes aware of the software shortcomings, may actually be the best thing that could happen for current and soon to be owners. If this doesn’t light a fire within Lucid (and hopefully they didn’t need that), nothing will.

The review was brief but objective, praising the car’s underpinnings to the sky, but criticizing the software in its current state. The issue of the rear brakes slamming on as the result of an erroneous obstacle detection, was something I hadn’t heard before. That’s a drivability concern.
 
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2022 Lucid Air electric luxury sedan may be best car in the world by middle of next year
Detroit auto writer says he’s convinced the Air is like the iPhone — one of those rare products that won’t just succeed: It will change its industry,

Luxury electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors is exploring opening a showroom for its cars in Plano.
By Mark Phelan

10:30 AM on Jan 1, 2022 CST



NEWARK, California — By the middle of 2022, the Lucid Air electric luxury sedan may be the best car in the world.

After a day driving the new EV and another touring Lucid’s Silicon Valley HQ/tech center, I’m convinced the fast, elegant and advanced Air is, like the iPhone, one of those rare products that won’t just succeed: It will change its industry, inspiring customers to demand more, forcing companies to do better.


Also like the original iPhone, which inspired jokes that it could do everything but make a phone call, the Lucid Air didn’t roll out of the factory perfect on Day 1.

I can’t dismiss the Lucid EV’s early-production software glitches. An automaker’s Prime Directive is to produce vehicles that open their doors and drive off on the first attempt, just as a telephone that struggles with audio calls is flawed, no matter how marvelous its other capacities.


But five years from now, nobody will remember the glitchy door handles I experienced in early-production vehicles.

In five years, countless buyers will expect — and other automakers better hope to have matched — things the Lucid Air does brilliantly today.




Relentless innovation
At a time when many automakers were buying off-the-shelf components to develop EVs, Lucid, a startup based in Silicon Valley, didn’t hesitate to rethink not just what an electric car can do, but basic automotive functions.

A few of its innovative functions:


-EPA-rated maximum range of 516 miles on a charge in the long-range model.

-Headlights that peer around corners and shift focus without a single moving part.

-The ability to get a 300-mile charge in 20 minutes.

-0-to-60 mph acceleration in 2.41 seconds for the 1,111-horsepower performance model, which can still go 451 miles on a charge.

-The most aerodynamic body of any current production vehicle: 0.20 cD, or coefficient of drag. Lower is better, of course.

-Batteries and motors that weigh less but produce more power so the Air can go farther and faster than the competition.



The Lucid Air makes EVs from the world’s leading automakers and Tesla, 500-pound gorilla of the EV industry, seem a bit amateurish.


“Where is the value if you buy everything” from outside suppliers, Lucid CEO and chief technical officer Peter Rawlinson asked over lunch.

“You’ve got to develop your own EV technology. You can’t buy this tech. Nobody’s ever done it before.

“Innovate and use that to drive greater efficiency. Every kilo you save gets you about 100 meters (more) range.”
 
2022 Lucid Air electric luxury sedan may be best car in the world by middle of next year
Detroit auto writer says he’s convinced the Air is like the iPhone — one of those rare products that won’t just succeed: It will change its industry,

Luxury electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors is exploring opening a showroom for its cars in Plano.
By Mark Phelan

10:30 AM on Jan 1, 2022 CST



NEWARK, California — By the middle of 2022, the Lucid Air electric luxury sedan may be the best car in the world.

After a day driving the new EV and another touring Lucid’s Silicon Valley HQ/tech center, I’m convinced the fast, elegant and advanced Air is, like the iPhone, one of those rare products that won’t just succeed: It will change its industry, inspiring customers to demand more, forcing companies to do better.


Also like the original iPhone, which inspired jokes that it could do everything but make a phone call, the Lucid Air didn’t roll out of the factory perfect on Day 1.

I can’t dismiss the Lucid EV’s early-production software glitches. An automaker’s Prime Directive is to produce vehicles that open their doors and drive off on the first attempt, just as a telephone that struggles with audio calls is flawed, no matter how marvelous its other capacities.


But five years from now, nobody will remember the glitchy door handles I experienced in early-production vehicles.

In five years, countless buyers will expect — and other automakers better hope to have matched — things the Lucid Air does brilliantly today.




Relentless innovation
At a time when many automakers were buying off-the-shelf components to develop EVs, Lucid, a startup based in Silicon Valley, didn’t hesitate to rethink not just what an electric car can do, but basic automotive functions.

A few of its innovative functions:


-EPA-rated maximum range of 516 miles on a charge in the long-range model.

-Headlights that peer around corners and shift focus without a single moving part.

-The ability to get a 300-mile charge in 20 minutes.

-0-to-60 mph acceleration in 2.41 seconds for the 1,111-horsepower performance model, which can still go 451 miles on a charge.

-The most aerodynamic body of any current production vehicle: 0.20 cD, or coefficient of drag. Lower is better, of course.

-Batteries and motors that weigh less but produce more power so the Air can go farther and faster than the competition.



The Lucid Air makes EVs from the world’s leading automakers and Tesla, 500-pound gorilla of the EV industry, seem a bit amateurish.


“Where is the value if you buy everything” from outside suppliers, Lucid CEO and chief technical officer Peter Rawlinson asked over lunch.

“You’ve got to develop your own EV technology. You can’t buy this tech. Nobody’s ever done it before.

“Innovate and use that to drive greater efficiency. Every kilo you save gets you about 100 meters (more) range.”
thanks!
 
Sorry,there's more to that. The site seems to keep crashing,so I'm having trouble posting it. I think it'll take 2 more posts to get it up
 
A dream and a plan
When Rawlinson interviewed Eric Bach — now Lucid vice president and chief engineer, then a rising star at Volkswagen — he asked for a sketch of the most efficient EV system Bach could imagine. The unusual approach presaged exciting new challenges, said Bach, who left the security of a career in Wolfsburg, Germany, for the tempestuous life of a Silicon Valley startup.

“The object was to advance the state of the art of the electric car,” said Rawlinson, who had previously been Tesla VP of engineering and a vehicle engineer for the revolutionary Model S.

“That’s necessary to accelerate adoption: Erase range anxiety, then make (the vehicles) affordable.”

It’s that vision that makes the Lucid Air — $169,000 for the 520-unit Dream Edition — more than just another tech bro’s toy.

Frankly, with 1,111 horsepower, all-wheel drive and the curb presence of arriving in the Batmobile with George Clooney as your chauffeur, $169,000 is a deal, but Rawlinson said prices will fall rapidly. A rear-drive/400-mile-range model called the Air Pure should be available for $77,400 in the second half of 2022. Still serious money, but thousands of people pay more for pickups every day. All prices exclude government incentives, which are currently in flux.

Lucid expects to add a second model, an SUV called the Gravity, in 2023. A volume-priced — in this context, maybe $40,000 to $50,000 base price? — model will follow.

The company already has assembly and battery plants in Arizona. Expect more as the model line and number of markets Lucid sells in rise. The company expects European sales in mid-2022, followed by China in 2023.

What makes the Lucid Air so special? Its in-house development of software, power electronics, battery pack, motors, body, lighting and drive unit.
 
Don’t leave out the final paragraph.
 
Thanks. So many server shutdowns tonight has been making things impossible.

I can keep copying and pasting if anyone needs it, but I don't think it's necessary anymore given the Outline link. Let me know if it doesn't work and I can try to paste the rest.
 
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Thanks, everyone, for the efforts to make this review accessible.

After two days with our Air, I have to say this reviewer is spot on. I've had a Mercedes SL55 AMG, three Audi R8s, two Teslas (currently a Model S Plaid) . . . and the Air Dream Performance still manages to take the driving experience to a new level, with the added benefit of being one of the most comfortable cars of all the sedans I've owned.

But . . . . the software issues right now are every bit as bad as the review portrays. The bright spot here is that Lucid does appear to be throwing every resource possible at them. I've already spent several hours on the phone with Lucid Customer Care, including a call that went past 1:30 a.m. my time. With each call there were more people involved (each of which had already been briefed by the time they joined the call). When a software reload didn't work and they finally decided my main issue (a constantly freezing Pilot Screen) required a visit from a mobile service technician, they told me I would be contacted shortly for scheduling. Within an hour I got a call from a service center manager -- and remember all this was happening on New Year's Day on a Saturday -- who started by apologizing that he couldn't get a mobile tech to me the same day. He then said he'd get someone lined up for today (Sunday). I told him not to call in someone who wasn't already scheduled, as my problems could easily wait. So they're now going to have a mobile tech at my house at 10:00 on Monday (the tech has a 3-hour drive from his home base).

I have every confidence that, after a period of annoyance with constant software changes, we're going to be left with the finest car we've ever owned.
 
I had mentioned in a different thread I had driven a Ford Explorer with front camera. This SUV also had lane departure. This was more than 6 years ago if my memory is correct. Legacy automakers have had a lot of time and resources to real world test. Lucid has only had engineering testing. GIGO

You can only do so much with a mule and the pre-production version.
 
Not sure it is a good comparison. iPhone was unique, and truly reinvented telephony. It took 3 years for Android to come along.

The Lucid is very good, but the things he mentions as innovations are not that innovative:
  1. The headlights that look around corners and shift focus without moving parts - German brands have been doing that for several years now.
  2. Class leading drag coefficient - actually slightly below Mercedes EQS
  3. 0-60 - slower than Tesla
  4. lightweight batteries and motors - yes but not when you compare the recently shown Mercedes EQXX
  5. Shorter than a Model S with more legroom than a long-wheel base S-Class - first part is true but not the second part.
The Lucid is an awesome car, but this article is either poorly researched or the guy is on the take.
 
Not sure it is a good comparison. iPhone was unique, and truly reinvented telephony. It took 3 years for Android to come along.

The Lucid is very good, but the things he mentions as innovations are not that innovative:
  1. The headlights that look around corners and shift focus without moving parts - German brands have been doing that for several years now.
  2. Class leading drag coefficient - actually slightly below Mercedes EQS
  3. 0-60 - slower than Tesla
  4. lightweight batteries and motors - yes but not when you compare the recently shown Mercedes EQXX
  5. Shorter than a Model S with more legroom than a long-wheel base S-Class - first part is true but not the second part.
The Lucid is an awesome car, but this article is either poorly researched or the guy is on the take.
4 is definitely true. You can’t compare it to a concept car.
5: he got the long base wrong, but it definitely has more legroom then an EQS.
 
4 is definitely true. You can’t compare it to a concept car.
5: he got the long base wrong, but it definitely has more legroom then an EQS.

5 is absolutely not true. I have sat in both.

I hate lies. People have to have an objective view of products. The people who go around claiming Tesla has technology and luxury light years agead of anyone else and yet have never heard of a HUD, Augmented Reality or massage seats. Unless you experience all the competing products, then you can’t tell what is bullshit. Interior space in the Lucid is impressive give the car is the same length as a Taycan, but it is nothing compared with the space in an EQS. Different leagues from a size and legroom perspective.
 
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