American luxury EV manufacturer Lucid Motors has slashed the price on all trim levels for its Lucid Air luxury EV sedan in the US, with prices cut by between $US10,000 and $US20,000.
Lucid Motors officially unveiled the Air in September 2020, the first EV to be debuted with a longer driving range than the Tesla Model S Long Range, with the Lucid Air Grand Touring edition boasting a range of 832-kilometres, and the second-tier Touring edition boasting a range of around 654-kilometres.
The company quickly sold out of the Lucid Air Dream Edition, the special edition designed to mark the launch of the Lucid Air, and the first models began hitting the road later in 2021.
Tesla, unsurprisingly fought back against the promise of the Lucid Air, first promising to drop the price and then increasing the range of the Model S.
Fast-forward, and Inside EVs recently noticed that Lucid had significantly cut the pricing and updated lease terms in the United States for all three Air trim levels – the Pure, Touring, and Grand Touring.
The 480-horsepower Lucid Air Pure AWD now starts at $US82,400, a price cut of $US10,650 (around $A16,000). Similarly, the mid-range Lucid Air Touring and the 1,050-horsepower Lucid Air Grand Touring both saw price cuts of $US12,550 (around $A19,000).
Lucid has reportedly explained that these price changes “further expand upon larger sales and marketing efforts” and are “intended to capitalise on the increased brand awareness to drive demand and deliveries.”
Lucid is also planning to launch a more affordable entry-level model, the Air Pure RWD, which should start somewhere around the $US77,400 mark (around $A118,000, if it were to launch in Australia).
The news comes as Lucid Motors announced its second quarter financials, where it restated its target to make more than 10,000 vehicles this year, despite only delivering 1,404 vehicles in the second quarter and 2,314 vehicles in the first quarter.
Lucid’s shares rose slightly on the back of their second quarter report, despite missing analyst estimates for earnings and revenue.
“We’re on track toward achieving our 2023 production target of more than 10,000 vehicles, but we recognize we still have work to do to grow our customer base,” said Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s CEO and CTO.
“We look forward to exciting new products in the second half of this year, including the planned start of production of the Lucid Air Sapphire and the Lucid Air Pure Rear Wheel Drive, plus the highly anticipated unveiling of our new SUV, Lucid Gravity, forthcoming in November.”
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.