Kit Car Magazine

A few days ago, Lucid Air, first model of new foreign brand Lucid Motors, officially opened pre-sales in European market. This time, two versions of new car were launched, namely entry-level version. Lucid Air Pure ($92,000, approximately RMB 650,000) and Lucid Air Touring with a higher position ($107,000, approximately RMB 760,000). about 620,000 yuan), it is worth noting that brand will also officially enter domestic market in 2023.

As for Lucid Motors brand, I think everyone is relatively unfamiliar with it, and not only does it hold title of "Tesla Killer" overseas, but it is also a battery supplier for Formula 1 electric cars, but that's a shame. Yes, brand's funding was belated, which also caused it to miss its best period of development, so it's also far behind Tesla in terms of popularity.

First of all, looking at product, although this new car was launched back in 2016, overall design is still at forefront of trend. The whole car looks very coordinated and full of first-class sense. And I believe that even if such a design goes on sale in domestic market again next year, it will still be able to hold a lot of attention.

In terms of dimensions, length, width and height of new car are 4970/1937/1410 mm, respectively, and wheelbase is 2960 mm, it is positioned as a medium and large sedan.

In terms of interior, new car is also based on simplicity. The front uses a very large merged screen consisting of three LCDs and removed most of physical buttons, replacing it with a vertical control pad. The screen as a whole looks full of technology.

Why is Lucid Motors calling him Tesla killer?

Even though Lucid Air was released early, it had funding problems. The car was not officially delivered to North American market until October 2021. However, new vehicle is currently doing reasonably well in North American market and has also received orders for tens of thousands of units for the brand, and with current capacity constraints, Lucid also plans to ship over 20,000 Lucid Air units in 2022.

Ultimately, reason is that Tesla has already surpassed Tesla in two aspects of three electrical technologies. For example, Lucid brand has super-powerful and extremely lightweight twin engines: a motor of just 74kg can blast 670 horsepower, while a combination of twin motors can blast up to 1111 horsepower.

In addition, brand itself is battery supplier for world's Formula 1 electric racing car. At this stage, new car is also equipped with a battery pack of 2170 triple lithium batteries with a capacity of 113 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Battery technology is not outstanding, judging by data. However, thanks to new car's superior three-point system, Lucid Air's standard EPA battery life has reached 520 miles (836 km), making new car longest-range model in a mainstream vehicle. released cars, and new car also has a 2.5 second super speed. Accelerating ability.

However, two versions pre-sold in European market this time use a twin-motor all-wheel drive system, but performance is also reduced,

The entry-level version of Air Pure has 487 hp. and accelerates to 96 km / h in 3.8 seconds. Compared to North American version, battery capacity is also reduced, but it can still provide 660 kilometers of battery life and support. Super fast charging, charge in 15 minutes Battery life 322 kilometers.

The higher-level Air Touring power has been increased to 628 horsepower and 0-96 km/h acceleration time has been reduced to 3.4 seconds. According to official explanation, this version will have higher form efficiency and improve range of up to 684 kilometers, with same battery capacity, this version not only has more power, but also has improved battery life, which even Tesla cannot achieve.

In addition, charging efficiency is also extremely high. For example, new car uses 900V ultra-high voltage platform for first time. Combined with unique battery utilization capabilities and heat dissipation, charging power of new car can reach 350kW, while current supercharged Tesla V3 of current model can only reach 250kW.

So, we can say that this little-known brand has super strength comparable to Tesla, so it can quickly become popular in North American market. Now brand has officially entered European market. It will also introduce domestic sales, which is really interesting!

Lucid Motors still has concerns

First, we can say that domestic market for new energy vehicles is very introverted, especially Tesla. Over years of hard work, we can say that its position in domestic market is quite stable. Marketing is definitely difficult.

Second, in addition to that Lucid Air, brand recently released a teaser image of its first SUV and plans to officially roll off production line in 2024, forming Lucid's high-end EV product line alongside Air. Lucid Motors' strategy is exactly same as Tesla's, but it's still same sentence, not everyone can perfectly replicate Tesla's success.

It should be noted that even for Tesla, Model 3 and Model Y, which are more affordable in China, are always popular in China. Therefore, for Lucid Motors brand, if they want to quickly spread market in China, it is also necessary to quickly launch corresponding competing models, and it must have strength to surpass them in order to impress Chinese. However, I believe that with leading three-electric level of most brand I believe that problem is not big.