Lucid CEO calls EV market softness ‘a temporary blip’ and says hybrids are a dead end

Different brands do different things under the hoods of their EVs. Some fill that space with inverters and high-voltage cabling. Others carve out a cubby of extra storage, the frunk that many EV aficionados demand but few actually use. 

With the Gravity SUV, Lucid is taking the frunk option a step further, creating a space that can be used as a seat. I confess, I thought it was a gimmick, but sitting in that frunk is surprisingly comfortable. It’s a bit cozy for two adults, as I found when Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson joined me, but we fit just fine. 

Rawlinson was representing Lucid at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where the Gravity was situated on the so-called “Concept Lawn,” just a few feet from the main event. That’s a bit of a misnomer, though, as the Gravity is no longer a concept. After years of anticipation, it’s finally becoming a reality.

“I had the honor, the privilege of driving the very first pre-production car off the production line in Casa Grande just a couple of weeks ago,” Rawlinson told me. That SUV, and others that follow, are going through verification now.

The electric Gravity SUV is the follow-up to the Air sedan, Lucid’s first (and so far, only) vehicle. Launched in 2021, the Air set a standard for range that has improved in the years since, now scoring 516 miles on a single charge in the $110,900 Grand Touring trim. Meanwhile, the $69,900 Air Pure has an efficiency rating of five miles per kWh and will get an estimated 420 miles of range from an 84kWh battery pack, making it one of the most efficient production EVs in the world.

With the Gravity launching into an increasingly skeptical market, Rawlinson sees this level of market-leading efficiency and continued performance as something of an antidote. 

However, the market is carrying some extra turbulence thanks to the political posturing surrounding EVs. Rawlinson declined to weigh in on the political state of affairs. “I’m completely independent in terms of political viewpoint, really agnostic,” he said, before adding, “Unlike someone else, who’s clearly distracted with politics.”

Elon Musk jabs aside, Rawlinson said that reducing climate change is a strong motivator for his company and that any softness the EV market is experiencing now is short term.

“I think we’re seeing a temporary blip. I think any talk of retrenchment into hybrids is a blind alley. I think hybrids offer the worst of all,” he said. Rawlinson also pointed at dealerships full of “underwhelming EVs,” a refrain echoed by the company’s senior vice president of design and brand, Derek Jenkins.

“A lot of EVs have been rushed to market with rather mediocre experiences, and I think that’s also affecting the overall perception of the category,” Jenkins said. “Long term, obviously, EV is the future. No question in my mind.”

But while the competition is getting stronger, on the premium EV side, the specter of excessive depreciation is slowing some buyers down. That the three-year-old Air still offers industry-leading range, Rawlinson says, will help Lucid’s cars buck that trend.

Still, the Air is a sedan in an SUV market, a problem the Gravity is designed to fix. Offering 440 miles of range and seating for seven (or eight, if you include the frunk seat) at a price somewhere under $80,000, the full-size SUV certainly offers compelling numbers. But Rawlinson’s primary targets are less about digits and more about performance.

“The benchmark is Porsche Cayenne, Lamborghini Urus,” Rawlinson said. “It’s got more legroom than an Escalade. It’s got seven feet of flat loading area. So it’s got the practicality which is unprecedented here.”

The Air sedan also offers a combination of big speed and legroom, but it’s had some big problems, too. The sedan has seen 12 recalls and over 70 software updates since its release. Check owner groups and forums, and you’ll find endless complaints of glitches ranging from the mundane (touchscreens that won’t respond) to the more significant (doors that won’t unlock).

“There’s been a big learning curve with Air,” Jenkins said, lessons that will be applied to the Gravity, hopefully ensuring it comes out of the gate with a significant leg up over its predecessor. 

There were lessons learned in manufacturing the Air, too. “We simplified even obvious things like… making closures and the openings of the vehicle easier to align and assemble,” he said. 

This desire to simplify and streamline forced the Gravity design team to focus on design purity. “I’m proud of the Air interior, but I feel like here [with the Gravity] we managed to get even more minimalist and yet keep it warm and elegant, which is always my goal,” Jenkins said.

With the Gravity SUV, Rawlinson said he hopes to access a market six times bigger than the Air. Lucid says it’s on target to produce 9,000 of the sedans this year, having set new sales records in both Q1 and Q2. Still, deliveries are short of the company’s previous estimates of 10,000 per year.

Six times that from sales of the Gravity will substantially boost the company’s bottom line, but to go truly mainstream, Lucid will need to continue further down-market. There’s a plan for that, which Jenkins calls “the mid-size program.”

Lucid has a series of more affordable models in the works, with prices starting under $50,000 and planned availability in 2026. One is positioned squarely after the Tesla Model 3. Another predictably targets the world’s bestselling car, the Model Y, but Jenkins says there are more interesting things to come: “Then you’re going to see us move into a little bit more ruggedized category, which I think will be a welcome thing for Lucid. It’ll still be a Lucid, it’s not like anything else, but allowing us to broaden our swath a little bit.”

Before any of that, the company needs to get the Gravity out the door. Rawlinson said that the first Gravity buyers should receive their cars before the end of the year, with the company’s factory ramping up to full production speed through the beginning of 2025. 

“The crash cars are being dispatched for crash validation. We built the cars for EPA range authentication,” he said. “This is on track.”