NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business

Luxury electric car in a race with Tesla

Bloomberg
17 Feb, 2017 04:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Lucid Air is projected to hit the road in 2019.

The Lucid Air is projected to hit the road in 2019.

Lucid takes on the big EV brands with its futuristic Air prototype.

Here, in the motor court of a $76-million Newport Beach estate, climbing into the rear of the Lucid Air for a test ride, we're already sceptical.

Beneath the Jackson Pollock-esque camouflage wrap, the California marque's prototype has the futuristic lozenge shape we've seen in photos, but lacks an interior almost entirely. There are just bare metal panels, no soundproofing, and a vinyl bench seat. The brand's promised luxury is not evident, no rear-seat screens, no deeply reclining chrome, leather, wood and felted wool cocoons meant to give the Air the feel of a first-class jet cabin.

But we're willing to give much of that a pass when the test driver, a WRC racer, pounds the throttle.

Yes, this rolling test-bed is stripped of much of the weight that the finished sedan will carry (this temporary body is made of easy-to-produce and replace carbon fibre panels, not aluminum and steel), but it's also dialled down to half the 1000 horsepower (746kW) the production vehicle will sport from the battery pack integrated into the floor.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When the driver hits the accelerator, we are pinned to our seats. Moreover, with an electric motor and active air dampers at each wheel, and all that weight down in the battery lowering the centre of gravity, the car feels remarkably planted as we slalom down a steep hill that leads to the ocean. Once we turn around and take off back up the hill, we leave behind the scent of smoking rubber.

The Lucid Air may not be ready for production just yet, and given the vagaries of the electric vehicle (EV) startup business, it may never make it there. (It costs upwards of US$1 billion for an established company such as General Motors to develop a new car. Imagine what it takes if you don't yet have a factory, or workers, or a supply chain, or an existing relationship with regulatory agencies, or established technology.) But it has our attention.

If everything goes to plan and the Air hits the road in 2019 as projected, Lucid claims the six-figure sedan (previous reports have pegged its price at up to US$160,000) will rocket like a supercar from zero to 100km/h in 2.5 seconds, range 640km on a single charge, and sport advanced driving assistance capabilities such as radar, lidar and cameras that will make it ready for autonomous operation - wherein the driver is all but irrelevant. It's the dream that the likes of Tesla and other startups, such as Faraday Future (whose billionaire investor Jia Yueting has also invested in Lucid), are all working towards.

There was another, more polished Air prototype at the estate as well, finished in a liquid rhodium colour.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

What's not in doubt is our attraction to the Lucid Air's design. The front end is low, with a narrow sneer of micro-lensed LED headlights. The windscreen touches down nearly above the centreline of the front axle, pulling the cab way forward and reducing the size of the prow. The sculpted fuselage body provides an interior the size of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class on a platform the size of a smaller Mercedes-Benz E-Class. This gives the rear passenger compartment capacious accommodations; its novel bubble-topped rear looks like a pergola grafted on to a limousine - it wouldn't look out of place in one of Syd Mead's Space Age illustrations. All that's missing is the metallic jumpsuits.

This is Lucid's gauntlet throw to the only established player in today's luxury EV market: Tesla.

While the interiors of the Tesla Model S and Model X are minimal and refined, they lack any true sense of indulgence.

This may suit Tesla's Early Adopter and Fast Follower psychographic segments, who may prefer to imagine their US$135,000 investment is going purely into advancing technology towards our automotive destiny. But it leaves room for a deeper luxury play, especially for the passengers, regardless of whether autonomous driving ever arrives.

Discover more

Manufacturing

Will Lucid Air be the next big thing?

18 Dec 07:33 PM
Business

Big moral dilemma facing self-driving cars

20 Feb 05:45 PM

The folks in the back seat can still indulge in their screens and tray tables and massaging features, using the car as a mobile office, a site for consuming streaming entertainment, a place for unwinding and napping.

This is why the Air's seats coddle the way they do, adjusting in every imaginable dimension, and some oddly unimaginable ones.

Climbing into the rolling hero model, we rode the seat like a roller-coaster through its full range of motion, and while it was eminently comfortable, it did feel strange to be levitated and splayed out deep into the rear glass canopy where all we could see was sky.

Then again, were we to relinquish the steering wheel and link our cars together in a cloud-enabled chain, one can imagine a ride becoming akin to terrestrial flight - looking up might be better for one's mental state with a computer driving, so as not to focus on what might go wrong up ahead.

The Air will need every differentiation and unique selling proposition it can muster in 2019, not only because it will be competing with the next-generation vehicles from category leader Tesla, but because established sporting and luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Jaguar, and Aston Martin will all be bringing out their own similarly priced, pure electric luxury sedans and SUVs at or around the same time.

And those companies all have plenty of other revenue streams to fall back on should EVs not immediately find an audience, Lucid does not.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Lucid's chief technology officer, Peter Rawlinson, formerly of Tesla, remains bullish. He dismisses the standard narrative that a luxury EV companywill bleed capital on every vehicle it sells in a subsidised quest for market share - and, as a former Tesla insider, he seems to have perspective.

"It's a myth that EVs lose money," he says.

"It's a very smart play, though. If I dominate that market, wouldn't it benefit me greatly to have my competitors - long-lived brands with decades of experience building cars - believe this is a money-losing prospect?"

- Bloomberg

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Business|companies

Tech Insider: UK tells retailers to use NZ’s Auror crime-fighting software

07 Jul 07:00 AM
Premium
Shares

Market close: Infratil rises as CEO Boyes ups stake

07 Jul 05:57 AM
Property

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei wins Environment Court appeal for recognition

07 Jul 05:00 AM

Audi offers a sporty spin on city driving with the A3 Sportback and S3 Sportback

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Tech Insider: UK tells retailers to use NZ’s Auror crime-fighting software

Tech Insider: UK tells retailers to use NZ’s Auror crime-fighting software

07 Jul 07:00 AM

PLUS: Medtech projected to earn $3.8b a year by 2028.

Premium
Market close: Infratil rises as CEO Boyes ups stake

Market close: Infratil rises as CEO Boyes ups stake

07 Jul 05:57 AM
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei wins Environment Court appeal for recognition

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei wins Environment Court appeal for recognition

07 Jul 05:00 AM
Butlers Chocolate Cafe closes stores after going into liquidation

Butlers Chocolate Cafe closes stores after going into liquidation

07 Jul 04:56 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP