The Lucid Air is one of the coolest new electric cars on sale today.
Lucid lent me a $180,000 Air Grand Touring Performance for review.
Its best features: ferocious quickness, 446 miles of range, and, most importantly, butt massagers.
In 2023, there's no shortage of new and exciting electric vehicles to drool over. But few are quite as novel or exciting as the Air, the very first model out of California startup Lucid Motors.
The simple fact that Lucid has managed to start building vehicles and shipping them to customers means the newcomer deserves your attention. In an industry dominated by hundred-year-old behemoths, it's exceptionally difficult for new companies to set up shop. Reminder: Tesla nearly went bankrupt when it was ramping up production of the Model 3.
Moreover, the luxe sedan is ridiculously impressive. I got behind the wheel of a $180,000 Air Grand Touring Performance (one of the pricier versions), and was delighted by all sorts of awe-inspiring features and capabilities.
The Air has a huge trunk with a snazzy clamshell opening that I think looks incredibly cool.
Folding the rear seats should make room for skis or a TV.
If you max out the trunk at a Costco run, there's loads of bonus room up front in the Air's frunk.
At first glance, the frunk looks decently sized but not huge. Remove a floor panel and it becomes one of the most spacious in the EV biz, bigger than any from Tesla.
The high-def 360-degree view was one of my favorite features of the Air.
The Air I drove had massaging seats up front with several different settings.
They even massage your butt, which felt a bit intrusive at first but is welcome on long, crampy drives.
On top of all that, the Air serves up extremely impressive performance all around.
Its range is unmatched.
The Air Grand Touring earns an EPA rating of 516 miles. The Grand Touring Performance I drove is estimated at a whopping 446.
For reference, the best Tesla Model S goes just over 400 miles on a full battery, while most mainstream EVs are rated for somewhere between 230 and 300 miles.
The Air Grand Touring Performance's quickness is otherworldly. It's like your own personal rollercoaster.
With two motors sending 1,050 horsepower to all four wheels, the Air is capable of hitting 60 mph from a standstill in 2.6 seconds, Lucid says.
What's more, the Air shoots forward so smoothly and effortlessly that it feels like it's barely even trying.
One of the absolute best parts of the Air is how quickly it charges up after a day on the road.
The Air boasts a peak charging rate of 300 kilowatts, placing it near the top of the industry.
In plain English, that means it charges much, much faster than your average EV — so long as you find a station that's rated to output 300 kW or more.
I stopped for 12 minutes and added 158 miles of range, plenty for another couple hours of highway driving.
Under optimal conditions, Lucid says the Air can recoup 200 miles of range in 12 minutes.
There's no doubt that the Air is an extraordinary machine. But is it impressive enough to go toe to toe with major players like Mercedes-Benz and BMW? Only time will tell.