With 1,050 horsepower, the brand new Grand Touring Efficiency version turns into essentially the most highly effective model of Lucid’s electrical Air sedan.
Lucid Motors
Electrical car maker Lucid is debuting a brand new version of its fashionable and highly effective Air luxurious sedan.
The Lucid Air Grand Touring Efficiency, introduced Tuesday, will ship with 1,050 horsepower and a beginning price ticket of $179,000. The corporate’s Air sedan has impressed critics in some ways since its launch final fall, partially for the astounding efficiency of the 1,111 horsepower Dream Version.
However that mannequin wasn’t straightforward to get. Lucid capped production of the Dream Edition to simply 520 examples, all of which have been spoken for months earlier than Lucid started shipping the first Airs from its Arizona factory final October.
Lucid mentioned Tuesday the Grand Touring Efficiency — with specs that very almost match the Dream Version and a beginning value simply $10,000 greater — will not be as restricted in manufacturing.
Whereas the Air has made an enormous impression on the excessive finish of the posh EV market, Lucid remains to be within the early levels of manufacturing. The corporate mentioned in late February that it had constructed about 400 autos since beginning manufacturing final September, and that it had about 25,000 reservations for the Air.
It now expects to ship between 12,000 and 14,000 autos in 2022, down from a prior forecast of 20,000 as world supply-chain disruptions have slowed the ramp-up of Air manufacturing.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson mentioned that the corporate moved to develop the higher-performance mannequin after realizing that there was nonetheless appreciable demand for a range-topping Air with a four-figure horsepower ranking.
Lucid was in a position to develop the brand new mannequin shortly due to its “vertical integration,” Rawlinson mentioned. Lucid develops and builds its personal electrical motors and battery packs in-house, slightly than counting on third-party suppliers for the elements as do most giant automakers.
Efficiency changes to the Grand Touring Efficiency are a results of the supply-chain challenges which have hit almost all automakers all over the world. However the brand new Air’s specs are nonetheless spectacular:
- Zero to 60 miles per hour in simply 2.6 seconds (versus a claimed 2.5 seconds for the high-performance model of the Dream Version.)
- EPA-estimated vary of 446 miles (versus 471 miles for the high-performance Dream Version.)
- Lucid’s superior driver-assist system, DreamDrive Professional, commonplace with a lot of the {hardware} that will likely be wanted for totally autonomous driving, together with a lidar sensor.
- Lucid’s super-quick 900-volt charging system, which permits a person so as to add as much as 300 miles of vary in simply 21 minutes at a 350 kilowatt DC Quick charger, additionally commonplace.
The brand new Air beats the highest-performing Tesla in most methods, however not in acceleration. Tesla’s Mannequin S Plaid launched last year with 1,020 horsepower, EPA-estimated vary of 396 miles, a starting price simply over $130,000 – and a claimed zero to 60 time of 1.99 seconds.
The Grand Touring Efficiency is a higher-performance variant of the previously-announced Lucid Air Grand Touring, which claims 819 horsepower. That mannequin has begun transport, Lucid mentioned on Tuesday.
U.S. deliveries of the brand new Grand Touring Efficiency mannequin will start in June.
