- The Lucid Gravity is the automotive that this groundbreaking EV startup hopes will carry it into the longer term.
- Lucid’s gross sales have struggled for less than providing a sedan, the Air, for thus lengthy.
- The automotive’s chief engineer says the Gravity’s ramp-up will likely be centered on high quality.
Modern, futuristic Lucid Gravity SUVs began trickling off the manufacturing line on the startup automaker’s Arizona manufacturing facility final week after years of improvement and some delays. Lucid Motors hopes its second-ever mannequin will ignite gross sales like by no means earlier than and pave the way in which for long-term monetary well being. But it surely has a hill to climb earlier than any of that may occur.
Quickly, Lucid must begin churning out extra autos extra rapidly than it’s ever needed to earlier than. That ramp-up course of has confirmed fraught for brand new automakers, like Tesla. And that’s solely half the battle. There’s not even a assure that patrons will line up in droves, given Lucid’s prior challenges with model consciousness.
Picture by: Lucid Motors
The launch of the Gravity is a make-or-break second for Lucid, which has but to show a revenue and has relied on billions in infusions from its majority shareholder, the Saudi Public Funding Fund. It’s the SUV that may drive income till Lucid’s true mainstream EV hits the highway later this decade. The arrival of “Mission Midsize,” a roughly $50,000 crossover, will mark Lucid’s Tesla Mannequin Y second—when it could actually hopefully hit the size wanted to earn greater than it spends.
Till then, the Gravity must be a success. And that begins with ramping up manufacturing from just a few items to 1000’s after which tens of 1000’s—no small feat.
“The hot button is to carry all the weather and areas collectively on the similar time, on the proper high quality,” Eric Bach, Lucid’s chief engineer, instructed InsideEVs in a current interview. “And that’s what a ramp is about.”
Listed below are these components, in response to Bach. First off, you want a product that’s mature and sturdy and gained’t lead to limitless guarantee repairs as soon as it begins going out to clients. You additionally want a provide base that’s dialed in and may ramp up manufacturing alongside the principle meeting plant.
Picture by: Lucid Motors
Lucid Gravity and Lucid Chief Engineer Eric Bach
The third leg of the stool is a reliable manufacturing facility and logistics system. Bach says ramping up manufacturing is nerve-racking for any automotive firm, however he believes Lucid is prepared for it.
“The second ramp is all the time higher than and simpler than the primary ramp as a result of we have constructed extra capabilities. I am not afraid of the ramp in any respect,” he mentioned. “Certainly, there will likely be some hiccups and ache, however that is regular.”
Picture by: Lucid Motors
Lucid ran up towards all method of supply-chain and manufacturing points when it began producing the Air sedan, its first and to this point solely mannequin, at scale in 2022. But it surely’s removed from alone there.
Famously, Tesla almost went bankrupt throughout early Mannequin 3 manufacturing in 2017 and 2018, a interval Tesla CEO Elon Musk known as “manufacturing hell.” Even well-oiled automakers which were doing this for a century have hit snags in manufacturing new electrical fashions. Common Motors spent months fixing battery-production bottlenecks because it launched its new EVs just like the Chevrolet Blazer EV and Cadillac Lyriq final yr.
Lucid is targeted on ramping up the Gravity with prime quality, Bach mentioned, echoing Lucid CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson’s feedback on a current earnings name. Though manufacturing has begun, Lucid hasn’t mentioned when buyer deliveries will begin.
A Lucid Air on the meeting line on the EV maker’s Arizona manufacturing facility.
“I anticipate that we’ll be manufacturing-constrained subsequent yr within the buildup of Gravity,” he mentioned in early November. “We have to get the standard proper and take a considered and really prudent method to assembly buyer expectations with the standard as we ramp up.”
As manufacturing will get underway, Bach’s crew is hammering away on future over-the-air updates for the Gravity. And it’s engaged on homologating the SUV for world markets. It’s additionally been conducting testing with Tesla Superchargers, seeing because the Gravity will ship from the manufacturing facility with Tesla’s beforehand unique charging port design. (It’s one of many first such fashions because the whole auto trade introduced it will migrate to Tesla’s plug.)
Lucid hasn’t formally introduced entry to Tesla’s charging community for its homeowners, however Bach says that may occur prematurely of the primary Gravity deliveries.
The opposite large problem dealing with Lucid right here, and Rawlinson referred to it on that very same earnings name, considerations demand and model consciousness. The startup bought simply 6,001 Air sedans in 2023, and it’s projecting manufacturing of 9,000 autos this yr. That’s a far cry from the place it had anticipated to be by this level.
Picture by: Lucid Motors
In 2021, Lucid predicted that it would make 90,000 autos in 2024, together with 41,000 Airs and 49,000 Gravity SUVs. That was primarily based on the Gravity beginning manufacturing in 2023, which it didn’t. In order that delay accounts for about half the shortfall. On high of that, a number of individuals merely don’t know what a Lucid is or that they need to even think about shopping for one.
“I’ve acknowledged earlier than that we’re not manufacturing-constrained,” Rawlinson mentioned on the corporate’s third-quarter earnings name. “We’ve been market-constrained.”
Rawlinson mentioned that Lucid’s model consciousness has been enhancing and that the Gravity ought to profit from that momentum. Plus, the model is planning an promoting blitz and extra brick-and-mortar areas as a part of the Gravity’s launch.
Picture by: Lucid Motors
Bach is satisfied that the Gravity itself will do wonders for the Lucid model.
Sedans just like the Air do not promote in giant numbers anymore, which has held Lucid again. It’s a disgrace, in a means, as a result of the Air is among the greatest—if not one of the best—electrical autos you should purchase in America at the moment. The Gravity, a seven-seat SUV, ought to unlock six occasions the addressable market of the Air and get Lucid on much more radars, Bach mentioned. Then word-of-mouth can take over.
“I am very constructive that a greater product is all the time the important thing place to begin” for constructing a model, he mentioned.
On paper, the Gravity is certainly a mind-blowing automobile. The Grand Touring mannequin, the primary to launch, will supply a whopping 450 miles of EPA-rated vary, over 800 horsepower and over 900 pound-feet of torque. It’s fairly extraordinary in particular person as properly, as I discovered throughout a take a look at drive in Malibu, California this month.
The factor appears to be like like nothing else on the highway, drives higher than any hulking SUV ought to, provides a blinding digital interface and has as a lot room inside as your common New York Metropolis residence.
Picture by: InsideEVs
A teaser of Lucid’s upcoming midsize crossover.
It has the potential to be a slam dunk. But it surely’s but to be seen whether or not individuals will embrace that oddball, minivan-like form. After which there’s the worth; the Gravity Grand Touring begins at $94,900, greater than tried-and-true gas-powered rivals just like the BMW X7 or Volvo XC90. A $79,900 Touring mannequin ought to arrive someday subsequent yr.
There’s loads driving on the Gravity. However Lucid can be steaming towards its subsequent undertaking, a smaller, extra inexpensive household of autos anticipated to start out manufacturing in 2026. About half of Bach’s crew is engaged on that, he mentioned.
“It by no means stops in my function,” Bach mentioned.
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