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I was excited about Lucid enough to buy a tiny bit of stock before the car came out. This change to a newer, more expensive model, is the exact opposite of thei

I was excited about Lucid enough to buy a tiny bit of stock before the car came out. This change to a newer, more expensive model, is the exact opposite of their announced strategy of reducing price thorough successive iterations. The Air Sapphire is a quarter of a million dollars. How is this company helping attract wide attention for affordable electric cars in America, where it produces them? I'm not thrilled.

tromp 4y ago
The article mentions both more expensive (Sapphire) and less expensive (Pure) models...
- dtagames 4y ago
  I know. And the less expensive version is part of the original plan. What disappoints me is that adding another, more expensive model can only consume resources that could have gone to bringing it down further.
  - nomel 4y ago
    > more expensive model can only consume resources that could have gone to bringing it down further. I don't think this is how it works. That more expensive model probably has much higher profits, and may be subsidizing the less expensive one.
  - _ea1k 4y ago
    They are way behind on their volume goals. Without volume, they can't afford lower margin vehicles.
toomuchtodo 4y ago
Affordable electric cars aren’t profitable currently. Go where the margin is.
- dtagames 4y ago
  In Europe, many of the same companies offer a wide variety of electric models -- and at much lower prices than electric cars here in the US. As one of the few companies to have purpose-built both electric car and battery factories in America, I had hoped Lucid could be a vector for moving things in that direction. But the market here seems to only want and care about ever-more-premium electrics. Even Nissan, with arguably the best plug-in EV in its Leaf model, decided to discontinue the entire line in order to make more expensive Ariya models. This is not the case in Europe, where all of the top brands have multiple electrics on offer.
  - TrapLord_Rhodo 4y ago
    There has to be a learning curve. Building a manufacturing company, a first production facility and a car at the same time is VERY HARD. You are doomed to low volumes as you attempt to figure out the design, so you might as well charge for it. Tesla followed the same model, they just didn't go deep enough. Now Tesla is backtracking with the roadster and they are directly competing on the segment. I have faith in Lucid, they'll deliver eventually. Also, there is a ton of turnover from Tesla to Lucid so the team is strong.
uni_rule 4y ago
This company is a spin-off of many disgruntled Tesla engineers in a fairchild-esque way (they are rather open about that). Right now they are repeating almost exactly the method Tesla entered the mainstream car market with in 2012, specifically a method where they went in from the top-down by creating a lower volume luxury sedan and gradually incremented downwards into lower margin more affordable segments from there. This is more-or-less their do-over of releasing the Model S Signature at ~$100,000(2012) in low volumes >5000, and as such they will probably make the same moves from here on.

tromp 4y ago

The article mentions both more expensive (Sapphire) and less expensive (Pure) models...

dtagames 4y ago
I know. And the less expensive version is part of the original plan. What disappoints me is that adding another, more expensive model can only consume resources that could have gone to bringing it down further.
- nomel 4y ago
  > more expensive model can only consume resources that could have gone to bringing it down further. I don't think this is how it works. That more expensive model probably has much higher profits, and may be subsidizing the less expensive one.
- _ea1k 4y ago
  They are way behind on their volume goals. Without volume, they can't afford lower margin vehicles.

toomuchtodo 4y ago

Affordable electric cars aren’t profitable currently. Go where the margin is.

dtagames 4y ago
In Europe, many of the same companies offer a wide variety of electric models -- and at much lower prices than electric cars here in the US. As one of the few companies to have purpose-built both electric car and battery factories in America, I had hoped Lucid could be a vector for moving things in that direction. But the market here seems to only want and care about ever-more-premium electrics. Even Nissan, with arguably the best plug-in EV in its Leaf model, decided to discontinue the entire line in order to make more expensive Ariya models. This is not the case in Europe, where all of the top brands have multiple electrics on offer.
- TrapLord_Rhodo 4y ago
  There has to be a learning curve. Building a manufacturing company, a first production facility and a car at the same time is VERY HARD. You are doomed to low volumes as you attempt to figure out the design, so you might as well charge for it. Tesla followed the same model, they just didn't go deep enough. Now Tesla is backtracking with the roadster and they are directly competing on the segment. I have faith in Lucid, they'll deliver eventually. Also, there is a ton of turnover from Tesla to Lucid so the team is strong.

uni_rule 4y ago

This company is a spin-off of many disgruntled Tesla engineers in a fairchild-esque way (they are rather open about that). Right now they are repeating almost exactly the method Tesla entered the mainstream car market with in 2012, specifically a method where they went in from the top-down by creating a lower volume luxury sedan and gradually incremented downwards into lower margin more affordable segments from there. This is more-or-less their do-over of releasing the Model S Signature at ~$100,000(2012) in low volumes >5000, and as such they will probably make the same moves from here on.