Lucid offers $7,500 discount for Air Touring and Grand Touring models
Lucid lost out on the current EV credits, none of its cars qualify simply because they are far too expensive. Add to it the ongoing price tussle between Tesla and pretty much everybody else and Lucid may be feeling some pressure.
It’s a tough one for Lucid, the Air is clearly positioned as a luxury vehicle, so is the upcoming Gravity. Lowering prices on luxury vehicles sends a wrong message to potential and existing customers and it lowers the brand value. It’s a move that is very difficult for any brand to recover from.
It seems though, Lucid found a way to offer a discount that is not a discount - technically. The VP of sales, Zak Edson, explained that the company feels its customers were treated unfairly by the Inflation reduction Act and the new EV tax credit. He went on to say that everyone deserves credit for buying an EV.
From now on, and for limited time only, Lucid will offer its own “EV tax credit” in the same, $7,500 sum, for some of its electric cars. Here is where the story falls apart. The official EV tax credit is for electric cars up to $55,000 or electric SUVs for up to $80,000. The cheapest Lucid Air Pure starts at $87,400 - it has no chance for the EV tax credit from the government but Lucid’s own “EV tax credit” discount would surely apply, right? Wrong.
The company must have forgotten it offers the Air Pure and offers the discount only for Air Touring and Grand Touring models which start at $107,400 and $138,000 respectively. So much for “everybody deserves credit” and more like “everybody deserves credit as long as they spend at least $100,000.”
With this new discount, the Air Touring starts at $99,900 and for that we get the AWD dual-motor 620 hp powertrain. The Touring version deals with the 0 to 100 km/h sprint in just 3.4 seconds and the top speed is limited to 200 km/h. The most important though, is the range and that has been EPA rated at 684 km which is substantial.
Yes, Lucid has become almost a boutique EV manufacturer with its low volumes. Its prices are one of the highest among the EV manufacturers but in return the customers get arguably one of the best electric vehicles out there, certainly when it comes to range. Dream Edition had a WLTP rating of 900 km, the Air Grand Touring comes with 830 km EPA rating. Whether that’s worth the price is up to the buyers and there are plenty of them patiently waiting for their deliveries.