Tesla should be scared.
New electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturer Lucid Motors has pulled the wraps off of its all-new ‘production preview’ car, the Lucid Air.
Although it’s officially billed as a concept car, Lucid Motors has been quite forward in saying that the Air is scheduled for production at a new facility in Arizona, US, sometime in 2018. The Air was unveiled to the media today as a luxury four-seater saloon, but it’s likely to be offered with other seating arrangements, like its main rival, the Tesla Model S.
The design of the Lucid Air is something to be marvelled at, with its sleek lines and distinct ‘glasshouse-on-body’ effect. The Air was penned by Derek Jenkins, formerly of Mazda, who was also responsible for the new MX-5 roadster. The front end of the car is dominated by a large, full-width ‘blade’ element, with slender LED headlights tucked beneath it. Beneath those, there are cooling ducts in the corners, which as far as we can work out are either for aerodynamics, or are solely for styling purposes.
The profile of the car displays a beautiful tapering roofline, which lowers gently to meet the perk boot lid. That short bum houses a slick, slim, full-width tail light, replete with ‘Lucid’ lettering. Inside, a wide dash design (what is it with these overly-wide design elements?) hosts a curved widescreen display, doing duty as the driver’s display as well as the main infotainment display. A tall, portrait-oriented screen sits below what appears to be air-conditioner vents, which displays navigational functionality in the supplied images.
A two spoke steering wheel is employed for here, which looks as plush as the seats that the Air uses, with the two individual seats in the rear aping the design of the front seats. Lucid claims a 645km electric driving range, a claim reinforced by their battery partner, Samsung SDI. The Air’s battery pack sits all the way at the front of the car, right against the front suspension, which is very different from existing electric vehicles. Lucid has billed this battery-forward architecture as ‘condensed system integration,’ which boasts the advantage of allowing all of the heating and cooling systems for the battery to be placed up front, rather than closer to the cabin, where operating noise could interrupt the serenity of the cabin.
A bit more on that drivetrain: The Lucid Air is boasting all-wheel drive via two electric motors (Tesla may find this a bit too close for comfort), while power output is rated at 745kW. This would put the Air well above Tesla’s ‘D’ models in terms of power; The century sprint can be completed in between 2.5 and 3.0 seconds, allegedly. The Air will be produced autonomous-ready, with no less than two long-range and four short-range radars, three front cameras, five surround cameras, two long-range and two short-range liar systems, and a driver monitoring system.
When it hits the market, the Lucid Air is expected to carry a price tag north of US$100,000 for a highly-specced model, which puts it right in Tesla territory. What do you think of the Lucid Air? Is it just hot air, or is there some lucidity to the idea?
Check out our gallery of the gorgeous new EV below.
