Lucid Air launched in Switzerland: This is how the American luxury car drives

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US electric car manufacturer Lucid brings its first Air model to Europe. Besides Switzerland, it is only offered in three other countries (Germany, Netherlands, Norway). However, other countries will be added soon. Lucid is developing the Air in California and building it in Arizona; This is a truly American product.

So how does the American perform on European roads? The sedan is available in four versions: Pure, Touring, Grand Touring and Dream – during our test drives in the Black Forest we drove the first three versions, which differ mainly in equipment, performance and range.

digital inner working

We test the weakest variant, Pure, first. Even though it is weak, it is an exaggeration. After all, the base model also produces 487 hp (338 kW) and 960 Nm. Thanks to the wide wheelbase (2.96 m), the interior has plenty of space front and rear, with only headroom limited to a minimum. The boot holds 627 liters and a further 283 liters fit in the front trunk. By folding the rear seats, the loading volume increases to 1834 liters.

The cockpit looks simple and tidy. Lucid also has a three-piece curved screen, similar to BMW. Speed ​​or direction instructions can be read in the middle part, lights and wipers can be operated on the left, and music and navigation can be operated on the right side. There is another screen on the center console that mirrors the top screen, but it can also be pulled into the front panel if desired. The screens are responsive but can’t yet display two different functions on two touch screens. Lucid wants to update this over-the-air soon.

What doesn’t convince us much about the well-thought-out interior with visually appealing materials is the feel and quality of the control buttons. They appear to be cheaply assembled and wobbly, and the wind noise and squeaky seats are also annoying. If the newcomer from America wants to seriously challenge the established upper class in Europe, it needs to be better.

Range Master

The chassis is comfortable but tuned tight enough that there are no annoying rolling or pitching movements. Despite the huge acceleration (Pure: 0-100 km/h in 4.0 seconds, Touring: 3.6 seconds, Grand Touring: 3.2 seconds), there are no traction problems with all-wheel drive. Lucid promises a WLTP range of up to 725 kilometers, thanks to the large 92 kWh battery. This corresponds to an average consumption of 14.1 kWh/100 km. We didn’t go below 20 kWh/100 km during our Black Forest journey, but we were also driving sportily. Charging takes place at a fast charging station up to 250 kW; so the Air only needs 20 minutes for an additional 400 kilometers of range.

We switch and now drive the more powerful Grand Touring version. We were impressed by the performance explosion of 830 hp (611 kW) and 1200 Nm. It’s amazing what happens when you step on the gas. Lucid promises that the slightly larger 112 kWh battery will provide up to 839 kilometers of WLTP range. But here too, only if you drive by lightly pressing the accelerator pedal.

Surprising: Despite the larger battery, it doesn’t take longer for the Grand Touring to stop charging. Thanks to its 900-volt architecture and impressive charging capacity of up to 300 kW, the Air Grand Touring can charge an additional 400 kilometers in just 15 minutes. Disadvantage of the larger battery: In addition to being heavier, it also restricts the legroom of rear passengers.

While US electric pioneer Tesla is conquering Europe, especially thanks to low competitive prices, Lucid is asking its customers to pay huge amounts. The base Air Pure model is priced at an impressive 125,000 francs, while the more powerful Touring starts at 145,000 francs and the Grand Touring starts at 175,000 francs. Unfortunately, the price of the Dream, which we did not use, starts from only 210,000 francs. With prices like these, doesn’t a successful launch of a young US luxury brand in Europe no longer remain a dream?

Source: Blick