Different brands do different things under the hood of their EVs. Some fill that space with inverters and high-voltage wiring. Others reserve an extra storage compartment, the trunk that many EV enthusiasts demand but few use.
With the Gravity SUV, Lucid takes the trunk 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 trunk is surprisingly comfortable. It's a bit cosy for two adults, as I discovered when Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson joined me, but we fit just fine.
Gravity is no longer a concept
Rawlinson represented Lucid at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where the Gravity sat on the so-called “concept lawn,” just a few feet away from the main event. That name is 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 and privilege of driving the first pre-production vehicle that came off the production line in Casa Grande just a couple of weeks ago,” Rawlinson told me. That SUV and others to follow are currently going through the verification process.
The Gravity electric SUV is the follow-up to the Air sedan, Lucid’s first (and so far, only) vehicle. Launched in 2021, the Air set a range standard that has improved in the years since, now achieving 516 miles on a single charge in $110,900 Grand Touring trim. The $69,900 Air Pure, meanwhile, has an efficiency rating of five miles per kWh and will get an estimated 420 miles of range from an 84 kWh battery pack, making it one of the most efficient production EVs in the world.
As Gravity launches into an increasingly skeptical market, Rawlinson sees this level of market-leading efficiency and seamless performance as something of an antidote.
However, the market is suffering from some additional turbulence due to political stances around electric vehicles. Rawlinson declined to weigh in on the political situation. “I’m completely independent in terms of political viewpoint, really agnostic,” he said, before adding: “Unlike someone else, who is clearly distracted by politics.”
Elon Musk jokes aside, Rawlinson said reducing climate change is a strong motivator for his company and any weakness the EV market is experiencing now is short-term.
“I am completely independent in terms of political views, really agnostic.”
“I think we’re looking at a temporary blip. I think talking about a reduction in hybrid production is a dead end. I think hybrids offer the worst of everything,” he said. Rawlinson also pointed to dealerships filled with “disappointing electric vehicles,” a phrase echoed by the company’s senior vice president of design and brand, Derek Jenkins.
“There have been a lot of EVs that have come to market with pretty mediocre experiences, and I think that’s affecting the overall perception of the category as well,” Jenkins said. “Long term, obviously, EVs are the future. I have no doubt about that.”
But while competition is getting tougher in the premium electric vehicle sector, The spectre of excessive depreciation is holding back some buyersRawlinson says the fact that the three-year-old Air still offers industry-leading range will help Lucid's cars buck that trend.
The Air is a sedan in the SUV market anyway, a problem the Gravity is designed to fix. With a range of 430 miles and seating for seven (or eight, if you include the trunk seat) at a price of around $80,000, the full-size SUV certainly offers attractive numbers. But Rawlinson’s main focus isn’t numbers so much as performance.
“Many electric vehicles have been launched on the market with rather mediocre results”
“The benchmark is the Porsche Cayenne and the Lamborghini Urus,” Rawlinson said. “It has more legroom than an Escalade. It has a 2-metre flat load area. So it has a practicality that is unprecedented here.”
The Air sedan also offers a combination of great speed and legroom, but it has also had some major issues. The sedan has been the subject of 12 recalls and more than 70 software updates since its launch. If you check owner groups and forums, you'll find endless complaints about glitches ranging from the mundane (unresponsive touchscreens) to the major (doors that won't unlock).
“There was a big learning curve with Air,” Jenkins said, lessons that will be applied to Gravity, in the hopes of ensuring it emerges from the market with a significant advantage over its predecessor.
Lessons were also learned in the making of the Air. “We simplified even obvious things, like… making the vehicle’s closures and openings 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’s interior, but I feel like here[with the Gravity]we managed to be even more minimalist while still keeping it warm and elegant, which is always my goal,” Jenkins said.
This desire to simplify and optimize forced the Gravity design team to focus on design purity.
With the Gravity SUV, Rawlinson said he hopes to tap into a market six times larger than the Air. Lucid says it aims to produce 9,000 units of the sedan this year, having set new sales records in both the first and second quarters. Still, deliveries are below the company’s previous estimates of 10,000 per year.
If Gravity sales increase sixfold, the company's bottom line will increase significantly, but to truly become a mass-market product, Lucid will have to stay in the smaller-sized market. To do that, there's a plan Jenkins calls “the midsize program.”
Lucid has a number of more affordable models in the works, with prices starting below $50,000 and availability planned for 2026. One of them is positioned just after the Tesla Model 3. Another is likely targeting the world's best-selling car, the Model Y, but Jenkins says there's more exciting stuff to come: “Then you'll see us move into a slightly more robust category, which I think will be a positive thing for Lucid. It'll still be a Lucid, it's not like any other, but it will allow us to expand our lineup a bit.”
Before all that, the company needs to get the Gravity to market. Rawlinson said the first Gravity buyers should receive their cars before the end of the year, and the company's factory will ramp up production to full capacity by early 2025.
“The crash vehicles are being sent for validation. We built them for EPA authentication,” he said. “We are on our way.”
