After its successful introduction in the United States at the end of the year, the Lucid Air will arrive in Europe in mid-2022. The first market in the old continent in which this luxurious electric saloon will be sold will be Germany, as the brand plans to open a showroom in Munich in the very short term. Later, the company will expand to other regions.
The Air is a 4.97-meter long representative sedan. Although by length we could fit it in the E segment, the truth is that its technology and luxury lift it to the F segment; in fact, Lucid itself states that its main rival is the Mercedes-Benz EQS, the current reference in the category thanks to its autonomy (784 km WLTP).
In the United States, the Lucid Air is available in five trims: Pure (487 hp, 653 km EPA), Touring (629 hp, 653 km EPA), Grand Touring (811 hp, 830 km EPA), Dream Edition (946 hp, 837 km EPA) and Dream Edition Performance (1,126 hp, 758 km EPA). A high-performance variant with three electric motors (one on the front axle and two on the rear) should also be added later, although its launch date is still unknown.
All models have all-wheel drive except the Pure, which is rear-wheel drive. Rates vary between $77,400 for the access model and $169,000 for the top of the range; however, it is still early to estimate European rates, which may be in the same range as its main rival.
The Lucid Air is a competitor to the Mercedes-Benz EQS
Since the Dream Edition is limited to 520 units (which have already sold out), it is most likely that the first copies to arrive in Germany correspond to the Grand Touring variant. Although its autonomy is slightly lower, it may exceed 900 km under the European WLTP cycle, laxer than the American EPA.
Following the Air, Lucid plans to launch a large-format SUV, the Gravity. In this case, its rivals will be the imminent Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, scheduled for the end of this year, and the veteran Tesla Model X. However, the brand’s most ambitious model will wait until 2024, the year in which will launch a midsize sedan to compete against the Tesla Model 3.
Since Lucid is, like Tesla, a company with a global vocation, we can expect both the Gravity and its access sedan to arrive in Europe, probably a few months behind the United States. In addition, the company also plans to build a factory in Saudi Arabia by 2025, which will allow it to cement its international expansion and complement its current plant in Arizona.
