Spotted a Lucid in the Wild

Exterior looks ok personally, I'd like to see all black and no aluminum trim.  Seen at Tyson's Corner mall in NoVa.

Lucid took over a Nissan dealer near my work in Seattle. Lots of landscaping and decorating, no cars.

Their banners look cool though.

There is one that lives in my neighborhood - it replaced an RS6 wagon, and the guy has a GT3 in the garage. 

I really like it. His is goldish-bronze, and it looks really sharp.

I've never heard of it. Is this a new EV brand?

There were a few of these driving in pairs around here before they launched. Then on the launch weekend I must have seen a dozen of them up and down the coast from Monterey to Santa Cruz. Now I see them about twice a month. Almost all of them have been white. The only other color I've seen is that bronze/gold.

I've seen a few Rivian's around here too. 

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

I've never heard of it. Is this a new EV brand?

Yes, looking to be faster and more luxe and more expensive than the Tesla S. Think Mercedes S class competitor.

I saw a Rivian at the mountain bike trailhead at Kokopelli a couple of weeks ago. It was right out of a #lifestyle ad and looked very much at home :)

I saw a white Lucid somewhere over the weekend but can't remember exactly where it was (SF Bay Area which is probably not a surprise). Cool to see them and Rivian actually making products that are appearing in the wild, even if the scale is pretty small at the moment.

Been in a couple.  First was a rough proto, but the second was a launch spec car.  Ride quality, NVH, and performance are amazing.  Didn't get to drive the production level car so can't give real feedback on the driving experience, but from the passenger seat it's an amazing car, light years ahead of the model S.  Pity that one is black, such a boring color.  Lighter warmer colors really show the elegance of the design.  
 

I've only seen one in the wild, and that was in Tennessee of all places as we were stopping for food on the way to Florida.  A colleague spotted one in the Denver area too.  
 

You see a reasonable number of Rivians around SE Mi, but like every other auto company they have offices around here so not too unusual.  I do think a couple of the ones I see are privately owned, but they could be owned by employees.  My daughter got to spend a week in California being driven around in one.  Her no interest in automobiles other than as a necessary evil was that it was really cool, but she kept hitting her head in the rear as the area above the rear door is so intrusive into the passenger compartment.  

I've seen a couple of Lucid cars now on the road in Charlotte. I really can't get past the styling - expensive looking but homely imo. I know they are seriously impressive cars with a 600hp motor that fits in a shoe box and all, but I'd go for a Model S over Lucid with my imaginary lotto bucks. I saw a Plaid parked Sat evening - the slightly flared fenders/ bigger wheels&tires look good in person - subtle but more aggressive. Yoke steering probably not my thing though.

Curious to see how they do in the market. Tesla has had the high end EV sedan space all to themselves (and siphoned off a lot of ICE BMW/Audi/Merc buyers) until recently. With the big german makers in the space now, I think Lucid will struggle.

I have a soft for Lucid.I worked for them from 2019 through the end of 2020. I got to see the development mules being built and their factory go from empty desert to early preproduction builds. For me it was really fun to talk with the Design and Engineering teams in the break rooms and at company events. 

It great to customer cars in the wild now

Funny, haven't seen any Lucids or Rivians but I have seen a couple Taycans. Both were white, could even have been the same one.

local to me.

There's something about the look of these new EV's that really doesn't translate from in-person to photos.  The Lucid, the Taycan, Rivian, e-Tron GT... photos just don't do them justice.  

I have seen a few Rivians and a Hummer. I thought the Hummer was going to be obnoxious but it wasn't. just looked like a nice GM pickup. Big but not bigger than other full size pickups. Waiting to see a Lucid, those are supposed to be epically nice rides. 

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Didn't get to drive the production level car so can't give real feedback on the driving experience, but from the passenger seat it's an amazing car, light years ahead of the model S.  

Can you expand on why it was so superior to the S?

sobe_death said:

There's something about the look of these new EV's that really doesn't translate from in-person to photos.  The Lucid, the Taycan, Rivian, e-Tron GT... photos just don't do them justice.  

I think you're on to something there.  To me, the Lucid is not an attractive car in photos.  I felt the same way about the Rivian, but I saw one in person the other day and it's way better in the flesh.  

Taycan's look awesome in person.  This one parked near me at Costco the other day.

This Rivian was spotted the other day helping out a motorist in the ditch. Sorry, can't embed it. 

psteav (Forum Supporter) said:

sobe_death said:

There's something about the look of these new EV's that really doesn't translate from in-person to photos.  The Lucid, the Taycan, Rivian, e-Tron GT... photos just don't do them justice.  

I think you're on to something there.  To me, the Lucid is not an attractive car in photos.  I felt the same way about the Rivian, but I saw one in person the other day and it's way better in the flesh.  

Interesting statement. I wonder if it's similar to the way our eyes tend to "edit out" the things we don't want to see in a landscape - for example, I never saw the power lines in front of my old house unless I was looking at a picture. Maybe the static picture of the car allows us to see all the stuff that makes them different than the expected design language.

I enjoy the Rivian's sci-fi design cues. I haven't seen a Lucid yet but it's not the sort of car that usually attracts my attention. I'm looking forward to seeing the Hyundai/Kia pair in the metal.

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Didn't get to drive the production level car so can't give real feedback on the driving experience, but from the passenger seat it's an amazing car, light years ahead of the model S.  

Can you expand on why it was so superior to the S?

Ride is significantly improved on anything except perfectly smooth surfaces.  NVH is light years better.  Tesla NVH in the back seats has always been a huge issue.  Interior comfort, ergonomics, fit and finish.  Part of the ride issue is for some reason they (Tesla) have very very little suspension travel compared to any other luxury sedan on the market.

Tesla have done some amazing things.  They've really shaken up the industry and proven what can be done.  Their power trains, while a decade out of date now, are still pretty impressive, although very poor by modern standards on size and weight for the given capacity, but as I say, they are old by now and technology moves on.  I assume, or at least hope, they have a new generation of motor/gearboxes coming.  I have seen figures, although I can't repeat them, and when you look at torque capacity vs module weight they are miles behind Rivian, and especially Lucid, heck they are behind a Prius or Chevy Bolt in the torque capacity/mass terms.

Tesla were first to the market segment and have earned the right to their market leadership, but at the end of the day their cars are just not very good from an ergonomics, perceived quality, fit finish, driving feedback point of view.  Comparing the Model S to a Lucid is like comparing a Chevy Impala to a Mercedes E class if the Impala sold for the same money as the Merc.  They are both about the same size, similar space and you can probably choose powertrains that give similar performance.  But now matter what, one is always going to look, feal, drive, like an 'economy' car and will also fall down on the daily touch points with the car.

I will tell you though, that while I am unimpressed with the Tesla as a 'car' it's image is off the charts.  I get more comments and compliments on the S I drive regularly than pretty much any other vehicle I've been in.  Middle aged women especially are drawn to it like single guys to a stripper giving free rides in Bugatti.  First time I brought it home some of the moms in the neighborhood were walking by and one was so impressed she one came onto my drive and was dry humping it!! 

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:  ...First time I brought it home some of the moms in the neighborhood were walking by and one was so impressed she one came onto my drive and was dry humping it!! 

I'm not sure that's a good thing...

In reply to APEowner :

Agreed, but it's funny as most people think it's a Porsche or Ferrari that will engender that kind of response, when in reality it's the exact opposite.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

It's odd that Tesla didn't upgrade the drivetrain when they refreshed the S in 2021. It's a generation behind the 3/Y, which seems odd for a flagship. But I think the mass volume cars get more attention than the mostly hand-built S does these days. It would be interesting to know how many of your comments would change when looking at a 3/Y.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I haven't spent much time in the 3, but I hate the interior even more, I find the HMI to he dangerous, and the rear seat NVH is deplorable.  Personally I don't like the way it drives either, but each to their own. I know you're a model 3 owner and love it.  I'm glad for you, but there's nothing for me in the Tesla line up that appeals to me in any way.  
I admit I only have a few tens of miles in the 3 vs thousands in the S, but it doesn't appeal.  I know other enthusiasts like you who live their 3, but that's what's great about cars as a hobby, there's something for everyone. 

I was more interested in comments about the drivetrain tech, as it's a generation newer and that's something you pointed fingers at in your S comments. The car's one of the most efficient and lightest EVs with that sort of range, and you just have to look at pictures of the motors to see that they're clearly much more evolved - the S looks like it was made in a machine shop from paper drawings, the 3/Y looks like a modern piece of manufactured CAD. So your comments aren't about Tesla drivetrains in general, they're about Telsa S drivetrains? This is not a fanboy "TESLA CAN DO NO WRONG" comment, it's a legitimately interested question in what you've found and why. "Torque capacity per mass" (aka the power density that makes an LS3 so much fun) is not a metric many people use so that's an indication of a different point of view.

I know the interior doesn't work for some people, we can just take that as a given :) The user interface is different enough that it's scary if you've only got a few minutes of exposure, but I find it no more distracting in use than the E39.

A big difference between Tesla and Lucid is that Tesla does actually make mass market cars and that's where most of their effort lies these days. I know Rivian is hoping to get there as well. I don't know if Lucid is.