Lucid Air electric saloon makes UK debut
American company already sells luxury EVs in Germany; right-hand drive and even faster models coming,
The Lucid Air recently made its first UK appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Speaking exclusively to Autocar, a spokesman confirmed that the American EV maker will begin exporting cars to European and Middle Eastern buyers this “June or July” and then expand to China in 2023.
Lucid didn’t explicitly confirm which markets it will export to first, but in a previous interview, an employee reportedly confirmed that Germany would be its first port of call.
Once established, sales will be rolled out in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Monaco, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and all-important Norway, where EVs dominate.
Yet to be confirmed is the UK market, but an insider working closely with Lucid has strongly hinted to us that right-hand drive has always been planned for the Air.
If so, expect production to begin late this year and for the full Air line-up to be available to order for British buyers online towards the end of 2022 ahead of deliveries in 2023.
As well as the big expansion, Lucid has also confirmed that it’s developing an even more powerful version of the Air that neatly packages not one but two power units with the Air’s rear subframe.
Autocar has seen what’s been described as the Megawatt rear axle, which is thought to produce as much as 1,341 brake horsepower.
There has been no official confirmation about how much power the tri-motor Super Air will produce, but a safe bet is that it will be upwards of 1,600bhp. That should easily have it match or beat the Tesla Model S Plaid’s claimed 0-60mph sprint trim of 1.9 seconds.
The new rear axle is also set to be used in the upcoming Gravity SUV to which Lucid engineers are putting the finishing touches ahead of its debut in early 2024.
Other new developments in the work for the existing Air include a pair of airline-style reclining rear seats to boost comfort.
Any complaints concerning ride comfort on the car that Autocar has driven will also be addressed by a new air suspension option that will close the gap between the Air and its existing rivals.
Last month, Lucid announced that it was lowering its 2022 production target of 20,000 cars to around 12,000 to 14,000.
Back in March, it announced to investors that it had so far produced 400 Airs and delivered more than 300 to customers and still had an existing order bank in excess of 25,000.