When Lucid Motors announced its all-electric luxury sedan called ‘Air’, it was presented as a serious
competitor to Tesla’s Model S, but we expected to be priced higher than Tesla’s flagship vehicle.
It starts at $68,000 for a Model S 60 with 218 miles of EPA-rated range. The startup is announcing
today a more aggressive pricing structure than anticipated. The base version of the Air will start
at $60,000 in the US before EV incentive for an estimated 240 miles of range. The company made the
announcement this morning claiming the “base price of $52,500”, but that’s when accounting for the
$7,500 federal tax credit in the US. They listed the features included with the base Lucid Air:
• 240-mile range
• 400 horsepower (rear-wheel drive)
• All hardware necessary for autonomous driving
• Huge interior space in an efficient package
• Two trunks, one in the front and one in the rear, with a combined storage capacity of over 32 cubic
feet (similar to the volume of a 4-person hot tub)
• 12-way power front seats
• LED multi-lens array headlights
• Four screens, with interactive-touch surfaces on three
• 5-seat configuration with a rear bench seat
• 10 advanced airbags
• Aluminum roof
• 19-inch wheels
• 10-speaker audio system
• Over-the-air software updates
Speaking of the comparison with Tesla, they seem to be taking the same approach to self-driving
with “all hardware necessary for autonomous driving” being included in the base version. But like
Tesla, having the hardware doesn’t mean that the software is included, which means autonomous
features will likely come at a cost.
