Lucid to debut production version of electric Air sedan in New York in April

Electric vehicle hopeful Lucid released the first of what it says is a series of previews showing the production version of the Air luxury sedan, which it says will make its global debut in April at the New York Auto Show ahead of its putative production launch in late 2020.

Lucid released a 40-second video that shows off one of the colors Lucid plans for the car’s debut, plus the intelligent micro array LED lighting, with narrow a cluster of LED headlights trucked underneath a thin light band stretching across the front of the hood, plus the two vertical fog lights below it all on either side of the lower front fascia. We’re also given a glimpse of the glass canopy roof and scripted logo, including the name Dream Edition, which sounds like the name of their first edition models. Lucid says it will reveal full details about range, specifications, pricing and other details in New York.

We may not have to wait until then to find out more, however. Lucid will hold an exclusive preview of the production Air for reservation holders — the event is called Love Is in the Air, get it? — at its Silicon Valley headquarters on Feb. 13.

Of course, Lucid hasn’t exactly been shy about showing off prototype versions that are pretty close to the real deal production version. Of more interest will likely be details about configuration options, pricing and so forth. The Air is said to come with a standard 100-kWh battery and 300-mile range, starting around $60,000 before incentives, while a premium version with a 130-kWh battery and 400-mile range would start north of $100,000. The latter version could pack 1,000 horsepower.

Thanks to a $1 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Lucid is in the process of constructing an assembly plant in Casa Grande, Ariz. The company recently said it expects most structural steel to be in place by the end of February, with pre-production cars rolling off the line early in the fourth quarter and full production following before the calendar year flips. That timeline sounds aggressive, but then again Lucid first unveiled the Air concept in 2016 and set 2018 as its original production target. Aside from Polestar, it seems unusual for an electric vehicle startup in these days of crossover mania to go with a sedan as its debut model.

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