Tesla Model 3 rival from Lucid may take shape in 2025

[Joe]

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First came the Lucid Air electric sedan, then the Gravity SUV made a surprise debut. What's next on startup Lucid's radar? A Tesla Model 3 rival. In an interview published by Reuters Tuesday, Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson says the company wants to produce an affordable electric car to rival the EV industry's golden child by 2025 at the latest. A Lucid spokesperson clarified with Roadshow, however, that this timeframe is much more about starting the engineering process for what it calls "Platform II." This future architecture will, one day, underpin a Model 3 challenger.

Still, this strategy is very much in the some vein as Tesla. Rawlinson knows a thing or two about Tesla's strategy; he's a former Tesla engineer and helped create the Model S. The Air sedan will serve as a halo vehicle, while the Gravity scoops up potential luxury electric SUV buyers. Then, with manufacturing likely humming along in Arizona, it will expand into mainstream vehicles.

Speaking of Lucid manufacturing, the process was supposed to kick off this spring, but a recently announced deal to take the company public will delay production of the Air until later this year. The Air will launch first in "Dream Edition" trim, which sports a range of 517 miles, according to Lucid and independent testing. It packs two electric motors to make 1,080 horsepower, a 113 kilowatt-hour battery pack and a $169,000 price tag. Following it will be less expensive versions. Eventually, the base car will start at $80,000, but it's not yet clear when it will enter production.

The Gravity SUV should follow the Air, though Lucid remains tight-lipped on vehicle specifics. With the company gearing up for Air production, the Gravity in development and looking toward a Model 3 rival, this decade is shaping up to be a busy one for the company. There's a big question, though: Will other automakers beat Lucid to the punch with an affordable EV?

Source: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-model-3-model-y-prices-affordable-ev/

 

[hmp10]

There's a big question, though: Will other automakers beat Lucid to the punch with an affordable EV?

I guess you haven't been paying attention to VW or Renault or Vauxhall (Opel) or Hyundai or Kia or Ford or Chevrolet.

It's looking as if other automakers will beat Lucid to the punch with pretty much everything.

Perhaps Lucid should spend a bit less time talking about future models and concentrate on finally getting the Air into production.

 

[Adnillien]

The Lucid Investor pack also shows a pickup truck in 2030. I am not sure how that fits with their "Post Luxury" market position also shown in the investor pack. I think that Lucid has the best technology in the industry right now with respect to battery, voltage and electric motors. Of course that can benefit any market segment but they have identified Tesla's quality as weak point and are positioning the Air to address that. While that is a good strategy, they need to move fast or others will beat them in the market. Unfortunately, the best technology does not always win.

 

[hmp10]

In three years of following Lucid closely I have never had reason to doubt the company's integrity. However, this week's events have shaken my faith a bit.

On Monday, Lucid sent an email to Yahoo Money containing the claim that, "currently, our focus continues to be on bringing Lucid Air to production in Spring of this year . . . ." Then came the announcement that evening confirming the reverse merger with CCIV, followed shortly by an interview with Rawlinson announcing the delay of production to the second half of the year. Rawlinson claimed that this decision was sudden and arose from a drive he took with Alan Mullaly in the car that afternoon.

I don't buy it. Any problems that were pronounced enough for Mullaly to notice by taking a single drive or ride in the car and that were severe enough to warrant pushing production dates out were problems of which Lucid would already have been long aware, including earlier in the day when they communicated with Yahoo Money.

Not to put too fine a point on it, this smacks of market manipulation. Lucid almost certainly knew it was going to have to delay production but held off on saying so until they announced the merger. They then made the delay announcement when they did, hoping the hubbub of the merger would deflect attention from the production delay. Several market watchers are already expressing concern that this was a big contributor to the tanking of CCIV stock during after-hours trading Monday and its subsequent languishing.

I have worked both for a huge publicly-held company and for a large privately-held hedge fund that has been periodically tempted to go public. I always argued against it, having experienced the mental gymnastics and decision gyrations that publicly-held companies are tempted into by having to keep an eye on share price. This stunt Lucid just pulled with the timing of the production delay announcement smacks too much of the type of shenanigans Musk has been caught at more than once by the SEC (and by the Saudis, who put their money with Lucid instead of funding Musk to take Tesla private after one of his market manipulation stunts).

I really hope Rawlinson did not learn one lesson too many from Elon Musk.