Lucid Air – Back to Basics

Lucid Air Pure AWD – €115,000

First of all this: the Lucid configurator is now one of our absolute favorites in this field. Not only is it possible to park the Air in all kinds of different environments, you can also open and close all doors and play with the lighting. Beautiful. The car itself may also be there, although it is clear in real basic trim that this is an ‘entry-level’. The Lucid Air Pure is completely executed in the same shade – so without the contrasting roof – and that shade is ‘Stellar White Metallic’. You have to pay extra for other colors.

Although the configurator initially automatically shows the 20-inch ‘Aero Lite’ wheel, it is not standard. You pay €2,000 extra for it compared to the 19-inch ‘Aero Range’ wheels, which can be seen in the images above. Perhaps the biggest drawback of this basic version is that there is nothing to choose from when it comes to interior colours. The interior of the Lucid Air Pure is always designed as ‘Mohave PurLuxe’, which is Lucid language for ‘black with grey’. That looks a bit poor compared to the opulent options with beige, brown and wood that the other versions do offer. Moreover, we find artificial leather here instead of ‘naturally grained premium leather’. The imitation leather is alternated with a fabric called ‘Dune’, which gives the whole some warmth and cosiness. The glass roof is also missing, although that will not be a disadvantage for everyone. It is somewhat strange that the gigantic ‘helicopter windshield’ seems to leave its mark in the headliner. In the configurator, the sky shows the frame of that huge glass plate, which is not there in this case.

More legroom in the back

Incidentally, there is certainly no lack of luxury. The Air Pure ‘just’ has the three screens behind the wheel, plus the movable touchscreen in the center console. The Surreal Sound audio system already promises a lot of listening pleasure, although a Surreal Sound Pro system is optionally available. Also when it comes to electrical specs, there’s no reason to complain. Although the entry-level model has less power than other versions, it is still very powerful with 480 hp. For the time being, we are also talking about the Air Pure AWD, so with four-wheel drive. The configurator denies that, but Lucid is very clear about it. A rear-wheel drive will follow later, which will lower the base price a bit.

It shares the battery pack with the €134,000 Lucid Air Touring and is smaller than the Grand Touring (€165,000) and Dream Edition (€222,000). However, it still measures 92 kWh. Moreover, the Air is quite efficient, so that Lucid dares to estimate a WLTP range of no less than 725 kilometers. The slightly smaller battery pack has an unexpected advantage over that of the more expensive Airs: the missing modules have been scraped away from the footwell of rear passengers, who therefore benefit from an 8-centimeter lower floor and therefore a more comfortable sitting position. As with almost all other trims, the full package of driving assistance systems called DreamDrive Pro is optional. But DreamDrive-without-pro is standard and offers adaptive cruise control and an active lane assistant, among other things. Those who are still in doubt can reportedly upgrade to ‘pro’ later, just like with Tesla.

As expected, the Lucid Air Pure actually offers everything you could wish for, although more expensive variants can of course do even more. The biggest loss for us would be that there is little to choose from in terms of interior colors, so that an Air Pure never looks as opulent as on the press plates. Those who can live with that can save a lot of money by opting for this version. And then you’re even more comfortable in the back!