The Lucid brand has just announced its expansion to the markets of the Middle East, which join North America and Europe. However, the most exciting thing about this announcement has been, with it, Lucid has shown the production version of its first model, the electric saloon Air. Manufacturing will begin later this year.
Compared to previous prototypes the definitive Air adds slightly different headlights of design, more conventional rear-view mirrors, and a lower air intake that now includes the necessary sensors for driving aids (for example, a radar). However, the overall design of the car is very faithful to the prototypes, which is excellent news given its strong personality and indisputable beauty.
The Lucid Air will initially go on sale with a 110 kWh capacity battery. Its autonomy under the strict American EPA approval cycle will be about 650 km per charge, making it one of the most powerful electric cars on the market. This first version will also have a power of about 1,000 hp (product of using two electric motors, which will also give it all-wheel drive) and will start at $100,000.
Later, an access variant will also be added, which will have a single-engine (it will be rear-wheel drive) and will be around 400 hp. Also, it was recently confirmed that there will also be a version with three engines, which could be about 1,800 hp, catapulting the executive saloon above 300 km/h (in-circuit tests the Air has already managed to reach 378 km/h, a very high figure, especially for a model that is far from being a hypercar).
Faced with direct rivals such as the Tesla Model S, the BYD Han EV, the Porsche Taycan, or the Audi e-Tron GT, the Lucid Air will offer, among other claims, a 900-volt electrical system that will allow it to charge 300 kW of power. Besides, it will have a bi-directional charger, a solution still rare in the market. Another outstanding aspect will be its high efficiency, as it will be able to travel 8 kilometers for each kWh consumed, which will mean surpassing the current market reference, the Tesla Model 3 in RWD (rear-wheel drive) versions. However, it is still unclear which variant of the Air will be able to achieve such efficiency.