EV maker Lucid debuts its latest Tesla rival, a high-performance luxury sedan with a 446-mile range

EV maker Lucid debuts its latest Tesla rival, a high-performance luxury sedan with a 446-mile range


With 1,050 horsepower, the new Grand Touring Performance edition becomes the most powerful version of Lucid’s electric Air sedan.

Lucid Motors

Electric-vehicle maker Lucid is debuting a new edition of its popular and powerful Air luxury sedan.

The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance, announced Tuesday, will ship with 1,050 horsepower and a starting price tag of $179,000. The company’s Air sedan has impressed critics in many ways since its launch last fall, in part for the astounding performance of the 1,111-horsepower Dream Edition.

But that model wasn’t easy to get. Lucid capped production of the Dream Edition to just 520 vehicles, all of which were spoken for months before Lucid began shipping the first Airs from its Arizona factory in October.

Lucid said Tuesday the Grand Touring Performance — with specifications that very nearly match the Dream Edition and a starting price just $10,000 higher — won’t be as limited in production.

While the Air has made a big impression at the high end of the luxury EV market, Lucid is still in the early stages of production. The company said in late February that it had built about 400 vehicles since starting production in September and that it had about 25,000 reservations for the Air.

It now expects to deliver between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles in 2022, down from a prior forecast of 20,000 as global supply-chain disruptions have slowed the ramp-up of Air production.

Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said the company moved to develop the higher-performance model after realizing there was still considerable demand for a range-topping Air with a four-figure horsepower rating.

Lucid was able to develop the new model quickly because of its “vertical integration,” Rawlinson said. Lucid develops and builds its own electric motors and battery packs in-house, rather than relying on third-party suppliers for the components as do most large automakers.

Performance adjustments to the Grand Touring Performance are a result of the supply-chain challenges that have hit nearly all automakers around the world. But the new Air’s specs are still impressive:

  • Acceleration of zero to 60 miles per hour in just 2.6 seconds, versus a claimed 2.5 seconds for the high-performance version of the Dream Edition.
  • EPA-estimated range of 446 miles, versus 471 miles for the high-performance Dream Edition.
  • Lucid’s advanced driver-assist system, DreamDrive Pro, standard with much of the hardware that will be needed for fully autonomous driving, including a lidar sensor.
  • Lucid’s super-quick 900-volt charging system, which allows a user to add up to 300 miles of range in just 21 minutes at a 350-kilowatt DC Fast charger, also standard.

The new Air beats the highest-performing Tesla in most ways, but not in acceleration. Tesla’s Model S Plaid launched last year with 1,020-horsepower, EPA-estimated range of 396 miles, a starting price just over $130,000 — and a claimed zero to 60 time of 1.99 seconds.

The Grand Touring Performance is a higher-performance variant of the previously announced Lucid Air Grand Touring, which claims 819 horsepower. That model has begun shipping, Lucid said on Tuesday.

U.S. deliveries of the new Grand Touring Performance model will begin in June.



Source

‘F1’ is Apple’s highest-grossing theatrical film ever
Business

‘F1’ is Apple’s highest-grossing theatrical film ever

Still from Apple’s “F1.” Apple Lights out and away we go. “F1: The Movie” hasn’t even reached the checkered flag of its theatrical run, but it’s already Apple’s best film release ever. The film, distributed by Warner Bros. Discovery, zoomed past $293 million at the global box office over the weekend. This outpaced Ridley Scott’s […]

Read More
Family offices ramp up deal-making in June with bets on biotech
Business

Family offices ramp up deal-making in June with bets on biotech

Key Points After a slow spring, investment firms of the ultra-rich made 60 direct investments in June, according to Fintrx. Family offices flocked to biotech and health-care firms such as Antheia, seeking to make an impact and returns at the same time. Antheia founder Christina Smolke told CNBC’s Inside Wealth family offices’ patient capital makes […]

Read More
How Netflix keeps luring big-name directors away from the traditional box office
Business

How Netflix keeps luring big-name directors away from the traditional box office

Film directors Rian Johnson (L), Greta Gerwig (C), and Guillermo Del Toro (R) Getty Images Netflix isn’t interested in bringing movies to theaters. The company’s leaders have said they see theatrical movie releases as an “outdated” model. Yet for more than a decade, the streamer has lured in some of Hollywood’s biggest directors to make content […]

Read More