The luxurious, long-range Lucid Air electric sedan is due to go into production by the end of 2020. And the California company behind it revealed Wednesday when exactly it will show the full set of production-ready details.
On September 9, the Air will be unveiled via an online event that will show final, production-level interior and exterior designs as well as “new details on production specifications, available configurations, and pricing information,” according to Lucid.
The electric sedan, designed by company VP and Mazda alum Derek Jenkins, with development and engineering overseen by CEO and former Tesla Model S chief engineer Peter Rawlinson, was originally supposed to make its debut in production form at the New York Auto Show in April.
The Air will be made at the company’s Casa Grande, Arizona, assembly plant, currently under construction and due to be completed in what it calls Phase One later this year—with construction starting late this year and first deliveries in early 2021.
Lucid factory construction in Casa Grande, AZ - June 2020
That production will be managed by manufacturing VP Peter Hochholdinger, formerly of Audi, where he oversaw the rise of its best-selling Q5 crossover, and most recently Tesla, where he orchestrated its production ramp of the Model 3.
Lucid has already released a number of intriguing details about the model—like that it will pack energy-dense LG Chem 2170-format cylindrical cells, in a capacity of about 110 kwh, with the capability to cover more than 400 highway miles at real-world highway speeds. Sales will follow a Tesla-like model, but with more of a boutique approach and less of the stark Apple-store spin.
Lucid Studio
After pausing last month for some photo-ops with its fleet of 40 prototypes, the company also showed in a video that it’s back out driving them for testing and validation purposes.
As businesses ramp back up from the coronavirus crisis, more than Lucid 1,000 employees will return to work in what it calls “a phased approach based on local and state mandates.” The company says that through the pandemic slowdown, none of its employees were laid off or furloughed. It actually hired 160 additional people over the past 90 days, and plans to add more than 700 more through the end of the year.
