Lucid Air Enliven Electric Vehicles In America, Tesla Feels Threatened

Lucid Motors, became a new competitor for Tesla in the production of electric cars. (photo: lucid group)

JAKARTA - Lucid Group Inc said on Tuesday September 28 that it will start shipping its luxury electric sedan with a driving range that beats Tesla by the end of October. This will be a big challenge for Tesla, as a market leader whose sales of premium models have stagnated.

The California-based startup began production of its long-delayed Lucid Air car at its Arizona plant on Tuesday. The company, founded in 2007, received funding from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in 2018 before going public through a shell company in July.

Lucid Group CEO Peter Rawlinson, who had overseen development of Tesla's Model S before he left the company in 2012, faces tasks similar to those of Tesla in its early days, including how to tackle manufacturing challenges and ramp up production.

"I think the big challenge for Lucid is execution," said Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Guidehouse Insights. "I think they have a very good car. Very interesting,"

Lucid said Tuesday it had received more than 13,000 orders for the Lucid Air model, which starts at $77,400. It also said it had increased the total planned production of the high-end Lucid Air Dream Edition to 520 vehicles. The car was priced at 169,000 US dollars (Rp 2.4 billion). The car will be available at the end of October, followed by cheaper models: Grand Touring, Touring, and Air Pure.

The Dream Edition version has received an official government rating for a range of 520 miles (837 km), giving it an extra 100 miles of range over its closest rival, the Tesla Model S, which is priced at $89,990.

"The exclusive EV technology that Lucid has developed will make it possible to travel further using less battery energy," said Rawlinson.

Lucid hasn't disclosed the battery capacity of the top-end version of the Lucid Air, but it does say that its Lucid Air Grand Touring version has an official EPA rating with a range of 516 miles (830 km) with a 112-kWh battery pack, making it an industry-leading efficiency of 4.6 miles. per kilowatt-hour.

Elon Musk said in June that Tesla had scrapped plans to launch the Model S Plaid+, with a target range of 520 miles, saying there was another "very good" version.

Tesla's combined sales of its Model S and Model X luxury models hit just 1,890 in the second quarter of this year, down from 22,300 during the same period three years ago. Tesla did not issue figures for the two high-end models.

"The Model S doesn't look fundamentally different from the Model S nine years ago," Abuelsamid said. "In the premium market, customers are looking for the latest and the best."

"What Lucid does has the potential to have an advantage is that the Lucid Air feels like a luxury car, feels much more premium," he said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk in October 2020 cut the price of his Model S, shortly after Lucid announced the price of his base model. "Challenge has been thrown! Prophecy will be fulfilled," he tweeted at the time.

Musk repeated this month that "production is tough." "Production with positive cash flow is very difficult," he said, citing the automaker's thin margins.

Electric vehicle maker Rivian, which is backed by Amazon.com Inc and is now preparing to list its public stock, earlier this month started production of electric pickup trucks. The move comes ahead of similar moves expected by Tesla, General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co, all of which are gearing up to launch electric pickup trucks.