Lucid Motors (LCID) Introduces Tri-Motor Lucid Air Sapphire
American electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors (NASDAQ: LCID) on Friday introduced Sapphire, Lucid's new ultra-high-performance brand. The new brand will be led by the world’s first fully electric luxury super-sports sedan, the new Lucid Air Sapphire.
With an expected price tag of $249,000, the Sapphire is equipped with the highly anticipated three-motor powertrain, featuring a new twin motor rear-drive unit and a single motor front-drive unit.
"With three state-of-the-art electric motors – all developed and manufactured in-house by Lucid – Lucid Air Sapphire reaches an entirely new level of performance," said Eric Bach, SVP of Product and Chief Engineer, Lucid Group. "And because a three-motor Lucid Air was always part of the development program, it retains all the strengths of Lucid Air variants already on the market – including limo-like rear legroom, a voluminous trunk and frunk, and impressive efficiency."
Lucid officially unveiled the new tri-motor Sapphire model during The Quail at Monterey Car Week today. The company shared the details of a new Sapphire brand that Lucid says will be available as an ultra-high-performance version of all its EV models going forward.
"Last year, Lucid rocked the world with the launch of Lucid Air, a fusion of unsurpassed range, efficiency, superior driving dynamics, and interior space, uniquely enabled by our in-house technology." said Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO, Lucid Group. "Today, with the introduction of the Sapphire line, we take the next logical step of advancement. Lucid Air Sapphire, being the very first Lucid product to bear the Sapphire name, builds upon our technical prowess to take electric high-performance on to next level. Sapphire represents the pinnacle of electric performance; finally achieving the performance that I've so long searched for. After painstaking development work, I am able to confirm Lucid Air Sapphire has achieved a satisfactory performance, and I trust the most discerning drivers will agree."
As expected, Lucid Air Sapphire's three-motor powertrain delivers even more horsepower than the car's dual-motor siblings, including the 1,050-hp Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. With over 1,200 hp, Lucid Air Sapphire is not only the most powerful electric sedan in the world, it is the most powerful sedan in the world.
Lucid is also quick to point out in its press release that, unlike some of the competition, the Sapphire will not need any kind of paid upgrades or preconditioning to do its sub-two-second launches. This is obviously a reference to Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), which introduced a “pay-to-play” subscription style of ownership, requiring after-purchase over-the-air performance upgrades in order to get the full experience from their vehicle.
By Michael Elkins | [email protected]