Lucid to Start EV Pricing at $52,000

Lucid Motors Inc. says the base price of its Air electric vehicle will be $60,000, excluding tax credits. This would undercut the starting price of a Tesla Model S electric sedan by more than $11,000.

A fully loaded Air sedan will cost more than $100,000 as will the top-end Air Launch Edition. Lucid is taking $2,500 deposits for the Air and $25,500 deposits for the Air Launch. Production of the latter will be limited to 255 units.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup plans to introduce the vehicles in 2019, starting with the Launch model. The company unveiled a “well-optioned” Air show car in December.

Equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack supplied by Samsung SDI Co., the rear-wheel-drive Air is expected to have a 240-mile driving range and generate 400 hp from its electric motor. A performance package will increase power to about 1,000 hp and bump the car’s driving range to 400 miles, Lucid says. The all-wheel-drive variant Launch model also will generate 1,000 hop but a range of only 315 miles.

The company claims the base Air will have superior comfort, a better user interface and better performance than comparably priced BMW and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The five-seat car will include four infotainment displays—three of which will be touchscreens—a 10-speaker audio system, 10 airbags and two trunks (front and rear) with a more than 32-cu-ft combined capacity. Lucid says the car will have all the hardware necessary for autonomous driving and the capability to make over-the-air software updates.

Lucid was formed in 2007 as Atievea Inc. by former Tesla and Oracle employees. Originally set up to develop EV batteries, the company changed its name last October. Lucid also has partnered with Samsung to develop a cylindrical cell battery system that they claim surpasses current performance benchmarks for energy density, power, longevity and safety.