Lucid readying Tesla Model Y fighter

Lucid Motors is preparing to go mainstream with an all-new Tesla Model Y and Model 3 competitor that will be priced from $US50,000 ($A73,000) when it lands in the second half of this decade.

Created to be Lucid’s most affordable car yet, the battery-electric mid-size crossover/SUV will sit below the current Lucid Air large car and Gravity SUV, which are both priced from $US80,000 ($A118K).

Timed to arrive just after the brand’s 2025 UK launch, the smaller new Lucid model will be available in right-hand drive, opening the door wider for the Californian car-maker’s Australian introduction.

Speaking to Autocar, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said the motivation for the more affordable model was to rapidly increase the brand’s global sales.

“We have to go with volume, because that’s what we’re about,” he said.

Rawlinson, who was one of the architects of the Tesla Model S, wouldn’t discuss what shape Lucid’s new vehicle would take.

But considering the global success of the Model Y it’s a safe bet that the company will introduce a mid-size SUV.

“The mid-sized [model] is going to be overtly a Tesla competitor – Model 3, Model Y. This is the first time I’ve ever said it: we’re going to compete in that market – high-volume family car,” he said.

“And how can we compete? Because we’ve got the most advanced technology, which means we can go further with less battery, and the battery is the most high-cost item of an electric car.

“So if you can go a certain distance with less battery, you can make that car more cheaply than anyone else.”

The new entry-level Lucid model is expected mirror the current Air by offering buyers a long driving range and quick recharging, thanks to the available 900-volt electrical architecture.

The new model should also boast advanced aerodynamics and class-leading packaging thanks to small but powerful electric motors that, along with a small transmission and inverter, take up little space with the skateboard architecture.

Announcing that the car-maker’s right-hand drive program is about to start, Rawlinson confirmed that the Air limousine would be the first car to spearhead its UK launch.

“We’ve got to do right-hand drive Air. To do that is probably going to take us 18 months and we’re absolutely slammed, because I’ve got all my main engineering team doing all the design and development for Gravity,” he said.

“So realistically, it’s two years away. I’d love it to be less. If we started tomorrow, it would be 18 months.”

As well as the new entry model, a leaked full-size clay model of a Gravity SUV-based pick-up also recently surfaced, suggesting that a Rivian R1T or Tesla Cybertruck rival might also be in the pipeline.

Lucid originally began taking orders from Australian buyers back in 2020 but then stopped, due to RHD production delay. There’s still no word when Lucid will launch here.

For everything you auto know about EVs, listen to carsales' Watts Under the Bonnet: the electric car podcast

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au