Jets Tesla Models 3 & Y Fighter Jets: A Lucid Preview

Lucid Launches Affordable Cars to Compete with Tesla.

Peter Rawlinson, CEO of Lucid Motors, has divulged information on the California-based automaker’s upcoming model line, with a base MSRP of “around $50,000”. Rawlinson told Autocar that the brand must concentrate on expanding its portion of the market, and that necessitates more affordable vehicles. He hopes to capture a sizeable portion of Tesla’s sales.

“We have to go with volume because that’s what we’re about,” declared the CEO, adding that the Air and Gravity, two of its high-end products, had to come first in order to offset the enormous costs associated with launching a car company. Lucid began as a battery manufacturer, and now that its reputation is established, it can concentrate on providing its expertise to a wider public at a more accessible price point.

Lucid has made it clear on multiple occasions this year that they are planning to launch a car priced at $50,000 or less. In their most recent conversation with CarBuzz, they made it known that a luxury pickup truck was not as much of a priority for them as a mid-size vehicle that is more accessible to the masses. When asked about when we can expect to see such a product, Peter Rawlinson, CEO of Lucid, commented, “I’ve formally stated mid-late decade, and that has been completely misquoted as the end of the decade – 2030. What I mean is ‘not 2025.’ It’s a few years away, but it’s close. It takes three and a half years to do a car, and we’ve [already] started… and that wasn’t yesterday.”

Rawlinson may have been the foremost engineer behind the Tesla Model S, leading some to erroneously assume that Air was a challenger to that vehicle. The fact it is more luxurious and technologically sophisticated, however, explains its inflated cost. Now Lucid is taking on Elon Musk’s company explicitly for the first time.

“The mid-sized [model line] is going to be a definite Tesla rival – Model 3, Model Y,” declared Rawlinson. “This is the first time I’ve ever made it clear: we are going to battle it out in that market – high-volume family vehicle.”

Tesla has been able to increase production rapidly due to its unique manufacturing process, while Lucid is looking to utilize their technology to make electric vehicles more affordable. According to Rawlinson, Lucid will be able to compete because of its “most advanced technology, which means we can go farther with less battery, and the battery is the most high-cost item of an electric car. So if you can go a certain distance with less battery, you can make that car more cheaply than anyone else.”

This appears to be incredibly hopeful, and we’ll watch out as more facts become known.