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A brilliant effort that should make every other luxury EV builder notice.
It’s the 1000-horsepower buy-in. Since Tesla put up a four-digit Model S, players in the high-end electric luxo-space all need a thundering four-digit flagship. The Lucid Air “Dream Edition” launched with 1111 tasty ponies, but it was on the verge of losing that edge after the last of the limited Dreams were built. So here's the Air Grand Touring Performance (GTP) at 1050-horsepower. That’s down a measly 61 from the Dream Edition and still beyond the oh-my-God-a-thousand threshold. It turns out that environmental virtue sells electric luxury cars, but so does blistering acceleration. Putting them together is now what it takes to play the game. The 1000+ horsepower electric luxury sedan isn’t merely an oddity, it’s a market segment. Considering the prices of the vehicles involved, it's a segment where there’s a lot of money to be made.
Available in a more diverse palette of colors than the Dream Edition, the GTP is visually distinguished from the regular old 819-hp Grand Touring by its deli slicer 21-inch wheels. Besides cutting potatoes and onions into the raw material of a pan-fried Lyonnaise delight, the new black-and-silver wheels harmonize with the Air’s sci-fi style. There’s some early 1990s Toyota Celica and Robocop in the nose, and a dollop of Jensen Interceptor and Renault Fuego in the tail, but mostly the Air appears as if it were drawn without reference to anything else. It’s sleek without looking squashed; muscular without being vulgar; and beautifully detailed without being self-conscious. The Air stands in fresh contrast to the aging Tesla Model S. Now in its tenth model year of production, and first seen as a prototype in 2009, the Model S is getting long in the lithium-ion tooth. In California, the Model S is common old fruit. The Lucid Air, in contrast, is rare, ripe, lurid and juicy.
Mechanically and electrically, the Grand Touring Performance barely differs from the Dream Edition. There’s some hazy mention of differences in motor windings and software tweaks, but that 61-horsepower difference in output barely registers in the visceral experience of the machine. Do the math. The GTP is rated by Lucid at almost 95-percent the output of the Dream Edition and the company says that both versions weigh in at 5236-pounds. Each of the Dream Edition’s horses hauls 4.7-pounds, each of the GTP’s lugs almost 5.0.
The GTP, like other Airs, operates in three driving modes. “Smooth” has the car performing at its most serene with more aggressive regenerative braking. It’s nuts compared to conventional cars, but driven at part throttle the GTP putters as if it were hired to haul a serene couple to their garden wedding. The “Swift” setting changes lets the motors romp a bit, modifies the throttle map for quicker response and gives the steering some additional edge. It’s for hustling to the reception. Then there’s “Sprint” where performance moves to the fore, launch control is on tap, and the car takes a set at the C8 that’s trying to pull ahead. It’s the mode for racing to divorce court. On launch in Sprint, the GTP hits with vertebrae shattering suddenness. That in mind, it doesn’t feel as brutish as the Tesla Model S Plaid. As the Plaid builds speed its (stupid) steering yoke gets light and the car itself seems to torque over as the tires claw at the ground. But the GTP is always planted and set on a true course. In a demonstration of its launch system set up in the parking lot of San Jose, California’s PayPal Stadium that directional security was apparent. How apparent? Thanks for rhetorically asking. I launched the Lucid beastie with my hands off its steering wheel and watched as it took a ballistic leap down the improvised, maybe a 1/10th of a mile strip. It never wandered, never shook or shimmied, and was just as secure under braking. The Plaid is surely slightly quicker, but the GTP is more confident.
Some of that speed may directly result from the Lucid’s greater weight. At a stated 4766-pounds, the Plaid comes in about 470-pounds lighter than the Air GTP. So though the Plaid carries, ahem, only 1020-horsepower, its power-to-weight ratio is slightly better. Also, the Plaid R&T drove a few months back wore aggressive 265/35R21 front and 295/30R21 rear Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, the GTP is on special high load capacity 245/35R21 front and 265/35R21 rear Pirelli PZero tires. The PZero, even in these “HL” stiff sidewall versions necessary to handle the mass, are fine tires. But the Michelin Pilot Sports are softer, stickier and more responsive.
All that explains why Tesla claims the Plaid rips from a dead stop to 60 mph in a mind-boggling 1.9-seconds while Lucid rates the Air GTP at 0 to 60 in 2.6-seconds. There was a time, like a few months ago, when 2.6-seconds would be considered unfathomably quick. That’s because, well, it is unfathomably quick. And furthermore, Lucid asserts that the Air GTP will run the quarter-mile 10.1-seconds at 143 mph. If time travel is possible – and the Lucid Air GTP looks the time machine part – this air conditioned, near-silent, luxury car would easily qualify for the first 16-car Pro Stock field at the 1970 NHRA Winternationals.
The Air’s 116.5-inch wheelbase is more than 10-inches shorter than that of a Mercedes S500 sedan. But because of the elegantly engineered front and rear electric motors powering it, the Air’s cabin uses almost every bit of that space between the front and rear axles. The Air GTP’s cabin feels and is roomy with generous rear leg room across a perfectly flat floor.
As with the exterior, the GTP’s interior is both sleek and stylish, but not perfect. In front of the driver is a sweeping display that seems to float atop the dash. Curved in a very Porsche-like way it is always readable and informative. Beneath it is another large screen that will retract when instructed for phone storage underneath it. Everything seems to be well trimmed and the materials are the best.
Criticisms start with the massive glass roof. As impressive as it looks to have the windshield climb up and continue across the cockpit, on sunny days the cabin heats up fiercely while the Air is parked. Furthermore, the sun comes in when the car is driving and hits the shiny trim piece across the dash. The resulting reflection into the driver’s eyes seems to laser into the skull and etch the back wall of the brain pan. The screens don’t wash out in sunlight, but it’s impossible to see them with the glare off that sliver of trim. Beyond that, the door lock triggers are a bit of a stab to get at on the door panels. And on the outside, triggers for opening and locking the doors when the key is detected would be an improvement.
Also, no CarPlay yet. And the navi system lacks the brilliant Google Earth maps of a system like Audi’s. Pity.
Much of the Lucid Air’s attraction ultimately comes from the extravagance and elegance of its engineering. The two electric motors include small differentials that reside within the stators themselves and inboard of the planetary gears that finally distribute torque to the four wheels. The battery packs are artfully glorious, the aluminum suspension castings are fascinating enough to stare at, and the aluminum extrusions that make up much of the chassis would be the best-looking parts of man lesser cars. There simply isn’t another production car that can match the Lucid in its advanced construction and leading edge tech integration. It makes the Tesla Model S look like a hobo. On the road, no matter what drive mode is selected, the Air GTP doesn’t deliver the feedback that Porsche builds into its Taycan models. And the ride quality, while excellent, isn’t as isolated or settled as a Mercedes S-Class. What it may be, however, is the best compromise currently available in a luxury performance car. The steering is always well weighted, the ride always controlled and the brakes (rarely used in stop and go traffic thanks to regen) feel as if they’re strangling forward motion with merciless efficiency. This is a fun car to drive hard even if it’s not a car that needs to be driven hard to be enjoyed.
There are acres of electrons being felled right now to be consumed explaining all the technical intricacies of the Lucid’s batteries. Go read those stories. But in a drive from Silicon Valley to Santa Barbara, the 446 miles of claimed range seemed attainable – though it wasn’t possible to test that completely without winding up stranded in a place like Buellton.
Designed in California, assembled in Arizona, the Lucid Grand Touring Performance is a car that nearly seems worth its $179,000 price. Nearly being a very malleable word.
Lucid may or may not make it as a standalone builder of luxury automobiles. It’s going to be a crazy ride over the next few years as halo products like this car start fighting for resources with more plebian electrics intended for mortal consumption. But right here, right now, this is as good as an electric car gets.