Lucid Slashes Prices to Survive

American-Saudi automaker Lucid is forced to cut prices on its Air lineup in a challenging market.

Lucid Motors announced that it is lowering the prices of its Air electric vehicle lineup and will now finance the installation of home chargers for its customers. This is the third price reduction announced by the manufacturer in just seven months. A necessary adjustment as the brand continues to struggle to generate demand amidst a slowdown in electric vehicle sales in several markets.

Lucid’s Big Sale

Lucid stated that its base Air Pure rear-wheel-drive model will now start at $71,400. This is down from the $78,900 announced in October 2023, which itself was a decrease from the $83,900 announced in August. A $22,500 drop in less than a year— the impact on the manufacturer’s margins must be enormous! But Lucid needs to survive before it can thrive on a large scale.

The Lucid Air Touring with all-wheel drive will now start at $79,400, while the Lucid Grand Touring, with an estimated range of over 800 km, will start at $111,400.

Lucid in the Fog

Lucid also plans to offer $1,000 to its customers to purchase their charging equipment. Home chargers can cost between $400 and $1,000, and the connected home charging station from Lucid costs $1,200. Surprising to give money to spend elsewhere rather than providing the home equipment! Lastly, the company announced that all new Lucid Air customers will receive free scheduled maintenance for two years or up to 40,000 km. They could have also included a keychain, a set of children’s pencils, or a 10% discount coupon for the supermarket… All of this seems a bit desperate.

The luxury automaker has struggled to generate demand for its high-end vehicles, producing only 8,428 cars in 2023, with just 6,001 delivered to customers. Lucid also laid off 15% of its staff and repeatedly lowered its production targets.

Lucid is majority owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and is currently building a production facility in the country. The company has shipped 800 vehicles to Saudi Arabia, but it is unclear whether these deliveries are included in the company’s report. The expansion of the brand in Europe continues, but at a slow pace.

Ultimately, the reality is very straightforward. Lucid’s electric vehicles are impeccably designed and have won numerous awards, but they have never been affordable. Even with today’s price cuts, the Air Pure cannot compete with the aging Tesla Model S and the recent models from BMW and Mercedes. As for the Chinese brands, they are on an entirely different level.