Transport Evolved Video: We Ride In The Lucid Air Sedan With NYSE: CCIV's David Lickfold

"Transport Evolved" did a follow-up video to clear up some questions/issues raised by viewers of the above video:

 
"Endgadget" just posted a drive-along review of the Air Grand Touring:


While it was a positive review, there are some things I found disconcerting. First, the reviewer said Lucid told him the chassis and suspension were about 80% through development. This seems very late in the game, even for a production date delayed into the second half of the year. Also, this test was supposedly of a release-candidate car. How can a car only 80% through chassis development be called a "release candidate"?

Also, the reviewer made a point that the car under review was built on the production line in Casa Grande. Yet this car was chock full of mis-aligned body panels. Here are just a couple of several I captured all around the car:

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At least I'm ordering a black car, but if this is the best they can do, well . . . jeez.
 
Yes, I too was concerned about obvious panel misalignments. In addition to yours, there was yet another with the driver's side doors.

Aside from misalignments, there was a disturbing 'clunk' that the retractable center screen made as it hit the center console area as he brought it to its extended position. I would surely hope this would be corrected in the final release.

They should never have allowed the car to be displayed in this shape. Disturbing to say the least. I would have rejected my E-tron outright with these kinds of issues.
 
In the still image for the video in the post above there is an example of internal panel misalignment on the C pillar. (Look just past his nose). For a test mule no big deal, for a car that is being shown to the press while touting that it was built on the production line, it seems like a miss.

I'm still annoyed with the lack of toe room under the front seats.



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They should never have allowed the car to be displayed in this shape.

I'm mystified by what's going on. "Transport Evolved", which is heavily followed, was given a long test ride in a Beta car with significant wind noise issues and yet-to-be-finalized chassis tuning, even though more fully developed Gamma cars are in circulation.

Now "Endgadget", another popular channel, is given a car to film that looks to be put together with duct tape, not to mention taken for ride on a chassis that is only 80% developed.

I'm wondering if the recent full reveal of the Mercedes EQS and MB's allowing journalists to take the car out on the road on their own has made Lucid feel pressured to put itself out there more. Lord knows, I'm getting impatient to see journalists get their hands on a true "release candidate" car and even more impatient to get a car I've had on reservation for two and a half years . . . but not at the price of triggering further doubts about whether Lucid can actually bring a top-quality car to market.

I'm following EQS internet discussions, and the comments are filling up with growing doubts about whether Lucid is losing ground it has not yet even gained. It would be better to continue taking flak about too little transparency than to put a mess such as that white car into the hands of an auto reviewer with a camera at his disposal.
 
For a test mule no big deal, for a car that is being shown to the press while touting that it was built on the production line, it seems like a miss.

And what's with that vinyl wrap on the roof rails? Just how early a car was this?
 
Oops. forgot to include the other pic. Although while I'm at it, the mass of those roof rails is a bit ridiculous. :oops: I understand some of the need given the large glass roof, but maybe the reliance on aluminum could better be focused elsewhere. And I doubt very much if modifying the interior trim is going to help much. I also happen to have an order in for a 2021 Bronco, and even with no roof at all in an off-road vehicle that could easily end up bottom side up, the top of the crash cage is very slender compared to this, in large part because of the use of lightweight high strength steel.

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Yes, but there was a view of the rear grab handles! But not a whiff of any kind of navigation function. The center console functions, also, seemed rather limited. Maybe you can throw more stuff onto the center console by swiping down from above. I don't know why these reviewer people don't spend 10 minutes examining the user interface and all the controls? I guess Lucid didn't allow them because they are only 80% completed? And this talk about Level 2 or potentially Level 2+, when Mercedes is talking Level 3.
 
I'm still annoyed with the lack of toe room under the front seats.

Amen. This shows the toe room in the rear of the EQS. It is not an optical illusion. I've seen a video in which a reviewer had half his foot shoved under the front seat. And the EQS seats have all the power features, including ventilation and massage, that Lucid will have, so it shouldn't be the need for mechanical room that necessitates the Lucid design.

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One positive note about the MB EQS "value" is that they will probably have MB Leasing available, so not much of a loss with only a 3 year investment. But the frumpy styling, lack of cargo space and limited range, makes me still stick with Lucid (for now).

Oh, and I forgot the EQS has that "transmission" hump in the back.
 
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. . . the mass of those roof rails is a bit ridiculous.

I've sat in two Lucid Airs, and the rails are definitely massive. While I don't like the look, I'm willing to live with them if they contribute to making the car feel like a vault, as Rawlinson claims. If it turns out the car is not as rock solid feeling as suggested, I'm going to be one mad puppy.
 
One positive note about the MB EQS "value" is that they will probably have MB Leasing available, so not much of a loss with only a 3 year investment. But the frumpy styling, lack of cargo space and limited range, makes me still stick with Lucid (for now).

I'm with you on the EQS looks. In fact, I actually hate the look of this car. Everything about it, from the Texas whorehouse / video arcade interior to the busy, over-chromed front end is a mess. I was thinking that if Lucid keeps dragging things out or disappoints with quality, I might just give up and wait for the AMG version of the EQS. But seeing this mess of a design scotched that notion.

I'm sticking with Lucid, too, for now.

I also have a Launch Edition Rivian R1S on deposit. I have been obsessing about the Air and relegating the Rivian to the role of a utility buy because I had been assuming I'd see the Lucid in my garage first. However, with Lucid delays I've started to pay more attention to the Rivian's very comfortable-looking rear quarters, its insane acceleration (for an SUV), and the promised precision of its 4-motor torque vectoring, I'm beginning to suspect it's a sleeper that I might end up preferring over the Lucid as a daily driver.
 
They need to iron out the many issues that are painfully obvious in these videos. If not, certainly at this price point, I will lose all interest.

If these QC issues manifest themselves in the final product, Lucid won’t survive.
 
I read all of the comments here regarding the "Endgadget" video before watching the video. After watching the video, you are correct. The white Lucid is not demonstrating the quality the Lucid is aiming for. The retractable screen clunk was surprisingly loud.

I am thinking that the etron Gt is looking better and better all of the time.
 
If these QC issues manifest themselves in the final product, Lucid won’t survive.

I think it's clear that Rawlinson understands this, which is why he decided to take the flak for yet another production delay. The question is whether they can actually fix these issues -- and fix them before so many other premium EVs land on the market that everything that looked so groundbreaking about Lucid two years ago becomes old news.

I got very worried when I saw the "Transport Evolved" ride-along video. It's one thing if Lucid at this point is trying to make things work the way they want. However, that video indicated they haven't even made decisions on things such as how aggressive they want the chassis tuning to be in sport mode. I could understand (up to a point) their still working on trying to make sport mode behave as they want. However, it's very late in the game for them not even to have decided how they want sport mode to behave.

Rawlinson has talked about how everything is done with a team approach at Lucid. That's all well and good . . . up to the point it induces interminable debate and decisional paralysis. It's time to lock things down and work on nothing but execution.
 
The Engadget video made something apparent I hadn’t noticed in previous videos and something I can’t live with: the gun slit windows. The reviewer sitting in the back seat is having to look under the canopy and when in the drivers seat the side glass is pinched as well. Very Camaro-esque and claustrophobic to boot. Also, the interior panel gap between the rear door and lower d-pillar trim is so wide, sunlight is casting down the gap 3”-4”. I realize gaps can be tightened but nothing can be done about cabin window heights. The Air is a very striking car and I really looked forward to owning one. However, an eTron GT just might hit the mark.

Pulling my reservation.

Best.
 
The Engadget video made something apparent I hadn’t noticed in previous videos and something I can’t live with: the gun slit windows. The reviewer sitting in the back seat is having to look under the canopy and when in the drivers seat the side glass is pinched as well. Very Camaro-esque and claustrophobic to boot. Also, the interior panel gap between the rear door and lower d-pillar trim is so wide, sunlight is casting down the gap 3”-4”. I realize gaps can be tightened but nothing can be done about cabin window heights. The Air is a very striking car and I really looked forward to owning one. However, an eTron GT just might hit the mark.

Pulling my reservation.

Best.
I went back and took another look at the video and you’re 100% correct. Somehow those narrow windows had eluded me. I don’t know the height of the reviewer, but it’s clear he has adequate headroom, so I doubt he’s 6’6”. You’re correct, this issue is also manifested when he’s in the driver’s seat. Not good.

I can’t recall ever owning a car where I had to scrunch my neck to look out the windows. Now granted at 5’7” this ’may’ not impact me, but it surely will impact friends I have in the car. Claustrophobia, with that huge glass canopy, is certainly not something I ever considered in the Lucid, but.....:(
 
The Lucid's roofline is about 4" lower than the EQS. However, Zak Edson, Lucid's head of Retail Operations, actually is 6'6" tall, and he didn't have any problem with headroom when he sat in the backseat at the Miami studio to demonstrate the leg room. That is because the rear seat cushion in the Air is low, which causes the knees-up sitting position).

When I sat in both the front and back seats of the Air, I did notice the thickness of the roof rails. However, with the glass canopy the car didn't feel too claustrophobic. But then, again, I, too, am only 5'7" and the car was inside a showroom. No matter how you parse it, the Air does have a high belt line -- not as extreme as the old Audi TT, but hardly the expansive side picture windows of a Land Rover.

On another note, I've been going back and forth with the author of "The Driver Download" video channel. He said the Air will not have an air suspension. I found a Lucid job posting for a "Senior Engineer - Air Suspension" and September 2020 articles by both "Motor Trend" and "Car & Driver" that said the car does have an air suspension. However, the author said that in a recent visit to a Design Studio he was told the car would NOT have an air suspension. He contacted a Lucid media representative who confirmed this. He asked for more details about the suspension and is waiting to hear back.

It seems that somewhere along the line Lucid has abandoned an air suspension. More and more features of this car seem to be dropping by the wayside.
 
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