After talking up its next vehicle in its lineup, Lucid Motors revealed a teaser of what will follow the Gravity. Officials say the new model, which will hit the streets in late 2026, aims to compete with the Tesla Model Y.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said the company’s next vehicle will compete head-to-head with the Tesla Model Y, the world’s bestselling vehicle.
The all-electric midsize crossover will carry a price starting at less than $50,000 and is expected to “use the efficiency and cost advantages enabled by Lucid technology” to produce the comparable range as its competitors while using a smaller battery.
“This is going to be a better car, a superior car and more cost effective to make than the current bestselling car in the world,” said Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s CEO and CTO. The bestselling car in the world currently is the Model Y. “We are competitors today with Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, but in the future, with the midsize, it will be Tesla.”
He made the comments during its Technology & Manufacturing Day at its factory near Phoenix, where the company gave financial analysts a tour of the recently expanded plant.
Competing with Tesla
The Tesla Model Y topped last year’s Cars.com’s American-Made Index. It’s the world’s top seller.
Rawlinson, a former top executive at Tesla, has made no secret that he views Lucid as the top competitor to world’s largest EV seller. Thus saying the new model coming out in two years will target Tesla’s top seller isn’t a big surprise.
What is eye-catching is that the company’s soon-to-be-released Gravity SUV was largely seen by most as the company’s competitor with the Model Y. The Gravity is a three-row SUV.
Last month, Rawlinson hyped his own company’s prowess, claiming it was now superior to its Texas-based rival. He claimed Lucid has surpassed Tesla as the tech leader of the EV industry noting the Elon Musk-led enterprise has become “distracted” in the technology race.
“Clearly we have the best technology in the world. We’ve now taken the mantle from Tesla, we have the best tech,” he told Yahoo Finance. “We’ve taken the mantle. Without a doubt.”
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Most efficient vehicle
The company laid claim to the most efficient electric powertrain in July. The new Lucid Air Pure is now the first EV to achieve 5 miles of range per kilowatt hour of energy, resulting in its 84 kWh battery traveling an EPA-rated 420 miles on a full charge.
Lucid plans to add its second vehicle, the Gravity, to the company’s all-electric portfolio later this year.
That translates to 146 MPGe. MPGe is the EPA’s equivalent of miles per gallon used by gas-powered vehicles. One gallon of gas equals 33.7 kWh of energy. The Pure is Lucid’s entry-level model.
“The advancements introduced across the Lucid Air lineup for 2025 further cement our leadership position,” Rawlinson said at the time. “Lucid Air is the very embodiment of our relentless approach to optimization, enabling Air Pure to use less electrical energy than any other vehicle for any journey taken, A to B.”
The new number puts it above other EVs like the newly released 2024 Tesla Model 3 long range rear-wheel drive at 4.4 mi/kWh, or 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 6 Long range RWD at 4.2 miles per kWh or 140 MPGe, the 2024 Lexus RZ 300e at 3.7 mi/kWh or 125 MPGe.
Growing the lead
Officials revealed the new Gravity will be equipped with a NACS charging connector in 2025.
During the tech day, officials also discussed its next-generation drive unit, Atlas, which is in development and undergoing extensive testing. The new unit enables enhanced value for Lucid and its customers. The Atlas Drive Unit is destined for the company’s upcoming midsize platform vehicles.
Lucid’s current electric drive unit already delivers superior power density, higher peak power, and cost per horsepower (hp) compared to industry rivals. The drive unit is miniaturized, allowing greater interior cabin space and is more efficient, enabling longer range using less energy and therefore less batteries than competitors.
A proprietary software stack enables the full potential of the advanced drive units and provides powertrain controls including torque vectoring, traction control, and battery management.
While it seeks to separate itself from Tesla, there is one area where the company happily concedes to Tesla: charging. Officials revealed the new Gravity will be equipped with a NACS charging connector in 2025, allowing access to 15,000-plus Superchargers. The Lucid Gravity is scheduled for start of production later this year.
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