Lucid Delays Production, Says Tesla Isn’t A Luxury Brand

Lucid Motors hit the headlines this week after becoming a publicly-traded company by merging with Churchill Capital Corp IV with a valuation in the region of $24 billion. However, instead of building on this positive news, the fledgling luxury EV company has had to halt production of its first model until the second half of 2021.

Lucid was initially planning the first deliveries of its Air model in the spring. In a TV interview, Lucid’s CEO Peter Rawlinson claims the delay is self-imposed. He told Bloomberg Technology that he felt the rush to market is unnecessary, and Lucid would rather take more time to “get the quality right.”

Rawlinson goes on to describe the previously advertised production time frame as an “artificial construct,” and that perfection is important as the Lucid Air is a luxury car. Rawlinson also points out that when Tesla released the Model S, “a lot of slack was cut” because the electric car was a new and “fun experience.” However, he doesn’t believe Lucid will be forgiven if it brings the Air to market with any problems.

When it comes to Tesla, Lucid doesn’t believe the older EV maker is even a luxury brand. That is patently revealed in a slide (shown below) from the Lucid Investor Deck: February 2021, which was used to present the merger between Lucid and Churchill Capital Corp IV.

Lucid presents itself as a “post-luxury” brand above the established luxury brands of BMW, Mercedes, and Audi. Then, according to Lucid’s view of itself, Tesla isn’t considered as a competitor but as an aside filed away as being “Innovative but not luxury.”

That’s big talk from a company that hit the stock market massively overvalued and hasn’t produced a vehicle to sell yet. However, Lucid is thinking big, and if the delay is self-imposed to get the product right, that’s a good sign. We saw the trouble Tesla brought on itself rushing to market, and it looks like Lucid doesn’t want to make the same mistake.