April 01, 2017 at 05:00PM
It may not be a Tesla, but Lucid Motors’ all-electric car was built by the same minds behind the Model S.
Last week, I got a ride in the startup's very first prototype, the Lucid Air. The car starts at $52,500, but the luxurious version I got a ride in at Manhattan’s Classic Car Club last week will cost over $100,000.
Peter Rawlinson, the chief engineer behind the Model S, is the leading force behind the car as Lucid Motors' CTO. But Rawlinson is flanked by other former Model S engineers as well, like Eric Bach, Tesla's former director of engineering
The car is still a little ways away. Lucid Motors is breaking ground on its manufacturing facility in Casa Grande, Arizona in the second quarter of this year to begin producing the Lucid Air at the end of 2018.
But Lucid Motors is attempting to show it will be a legitimate contender in not just the electric space, but the entire luxury vehicle market. Here’s what it was like getting a ride in the Lucid Air:
SEE ALSO: Startup Lucid Motors insists it is defying the electric car curse and will challenge Tesla in China
The Lucid Air starts at $52,500, but the prototype we saw at Classic Car Club was fully optioned to include the company’s more luxurious touches: a panoramic sunroof, two rear seats that can recline 55 degrees, and a 29-speaker audio system.
The car I took a ride in has a range of 315 miles and can produce 1,000 horsepower, Lucid Motors says. It will cost over $100,000, just like the Tesla Model S P100D.
Lucid Air's less-expensive base vehicle can produce 400 horsepower and has a range of 240 miles. That means it will compete with the Tesla Model S 75 that starts at $74,500 before tax incentives.
Lucid Motors didn't let us get behind the wheel because the car is still a prototype. But the startup did take us for a brief ride, albeit in very heavy New York traffic that made it impossible to rev the engine.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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