$160K Lucid Air Sedan Has Red-Hot Potential To Compete With Tesla And Mercedes-Benz

In a world where fledgling car companies often rocket to the top of the hype ladder only to crash back to earth just as quickly, the introduction of the $160,000 Lucid Air luxury sedan can be concerning. During a recent meeting with reporters, Lucid Motors showcased a vehicle that’s armed to the teeth with technological majesty. So far, the Air seems poised to make it to the top and seems to have the potential to make a profit.

According to Peter Rawlinson, the CTO at Lucid, the Air is basically "a private jet on four wheels," USA Today reports. This is largely because of the sheer number of advanced sensors, gadgets, and amenities provided by the vehicle.

For example, it’s equipped with the latest in lidar and radar technology, as well as several cameras. This essentially makes it capable of semi-autonomous driving. It would also appear that the seats can do a full recline, which is a common feature on private airplanes.

In terms of performance, the Air comes with twin electric motors, which are placed at the front and the rear of the vehicle. These two motors can provide a maximum of 1,000 horsepower combined, allowing the luxury sedan to accelerate to 60 mph in a matter of 2.5 seconds. This makes it comparable to the Ferrari LaFerrari, which is a hypercar that’s priced at $1.4 million, about ten times more expensive than the Air.

As far as luxury features go, the Air is already hitting many of the requirement boxes. However, since it is an electric vehicle, it also caters to the environmentally conscious. More than that, it would appear that Lucid’s luxury sedan offering has a range of 300 miles, which addresses a huge concern that drivers have with EVs. For those who are prepared to cough up some more money, the range can be increased to 400 miles.

Lucid is planning on producing about 10,000 of the Air sedan by 2018, the Los Angeles Times reports, with eventual numbers planned being 60,000 per year. Just for comparison, Tesla Motors is currently at 50,000 EVs a year, but Elon Musk intends to increase production tenfold once manufacturing for the Model 3 hits its stride.