Lucid Motor to Start Deliveries of Electric Cars With a Range Exceeding Tesla’s in October
Lucid Motor, a United States company, announced on Tuesday that it will begin delivering luxury electric cars featuring Tesla-beating driving ranges in late October, which is a serious challenge for the industry leader, whose luxury model sales have stagnated.
Lucid Motor started the production of its Lucid Air car, which has long been delayed, at its Arizona plant last Tuesday, with the company aiming to increase the factory’s capacity to 90,000 cars annually in the following two years.
Its top-tier Lucid Air Dream Edition will indeed be released in late October, followed by lower-priced models such as Air Pure, Touring, and Grand Touring. Lucid Motors company stated that they received over 13,000 reservations for Lucid Air cars and also that the total manufacturing of the Air Dream Edition has been raised to 520 cars.
The $169,000 Lucid Dream Edition got an official American government rating of 837 kilometers (520 miles) of driving range, which is more than 100 miles longer than the $89,990 Tesla’s Model S‘s driving range. This month, Lucid Motor’s shares increased by 23% as a result of the higher range.
Speaking at the manufacturing site, Lucid Motor CEO Peter Rawlinson, a Vehicle Engineer of the Tesla Model S, stated that his company’s vehicles outperform the Tesla S in terms of battery technology & cost.
“We have relieved our customers of their concerns about the range anxiety,” Peter said. “The cost-effectiveness of EVs is the next major obstacle. We need to reduce the cost.”
Peter Rawlinson mentioned that the Air Pure, the cheapest model (77,400 Dollars), will go into production late next year.
Execution Challenge
Lucid Motors company, which was formed in 2007, got funding from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia in 2018 before going public in July through a shell corporation.
“2017 & 2018 were very difficult years,” he said. “Our company was in a bad situation. And then I have to say, we found the perfect partner”.
Peter Rawlinson, who departed Tesla in 2012, has difficulties comparable to those faced by Tesla in its early days, such as addressing manufacturing issues and scaling up production.
“I think Lucid Motor’s biggest challenge will be execution,” noted Sam Abuelsamid, senior analyst at Guidehouse Insights. “They have a really nice vehicle, in my opinion. It’s extremely attractive.”
Elon Musk CEO of Tesla announced in June that the company has canceled plans to introduce the Model S Plaid+ Tesla with a target 520-mile driving range, referring to the Tesla Model S Plaid as “absolutely fantastic.”
This month, Musk maintained that “production is difficult.”
“It’s really difficult to produce with positive cash flow,” he added, citing automakers’ razor-thin margins.
In the 2nd quarter of this year, Tesla’s sales numbers for its Model X & Model S luxury vehicles were just 1,890, down from 22,300 at the same time three years earlier. Tesla does not provide specific numbers for the two premium models.
“The Model S car does not appear substantially different from the Model S car of 9 years ago,” Abuelsamid commented. “Customers in the luxury market are searching for the greatest & newest.”
Musk reduced the price of the Tesla S in October 2020, shortly after Lucid Motor revealed the cost of their base model. “The gauntlet has been thrown down! The prophecy will be fulfilled,” at that time, Musk tweeted.
Rivian company, an Amazon-backed electric car manufacturer that is currently preparing to be listed on the public stock, has begun manufacturing electric pickup trucks earlier this month. That move comes ahead of similar moves expected from General Motors, Ford Motor, and Tesla.
