Lucid Motors Plans to Open 20 Design Studios & Service Locations Throughout the U.S.

author: Eric Walz   

The Lucid Motors Design Studios will support the company's “direct to customer sales strategy.”

As California-based luxury electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors prepares to unveil its first vehicle the Lucid Air sedan, the company is building a network of 20 design showrooms and service centers in the U.S. Most of these locations will be in major cities, such as Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Washington DC. The new Lucid Studios will support Lucid's "direct to customer sales strategy." 

Among the Lucid Studio locations are a Silicon Valley Studio at the Lucid Motors Global Headquarters in Newark, California.

The design studios are scheduled to open by 2021.

Like Tesla, Lucid Motors will not have a traditional network of dealerships, so the spaces will serve as in-person design centers, where customers can go to see the Lucid Air sedan up close and select from the various vehicle options, as well as place their order. All of the Studios will feature an upscale, minimalist aesthetic.

Customers can explore and learn about Lucid Air's advanced electric powertrain technology at the locations. The showrooms are designed to be warm welcoming spaces that will draw inspiration from Lucid's home state of California, including using elements of nature, such as natural wood finishes. 

Lucid Motors said the retail spaces will showcase design colors and materials that represent specific locations in California, such as the sunset in coastal town of Santa Cruz and the mountains of Lake Tahoe.

Without a traditional network of dealerships, the Lucid Studios will also be a place where Lucid Motors can develop personalized relationships with its customers. Lucid will offer its buyers the flexibility to shop online, in person, or a combination of the two.

"Just as the Lucid Air is meticulously designed and engineered to be a new benchmark in the luxury electric car segment, we designed Lucid Studios to be engaging, to start conversations and to help educate people about the performance and efficiency benchmarks possible in an electric vehicle," said Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO, Lucid Motors. "A Lucid Studio is a place for people to learn about our unique brand while supporting every facet of the customer journey."

The Studios will also feature the Lucid Motors Virtual Reality (VR) Experience, which includes a physical display where customers can put on a VR headset while sitting behind the wheel (the same seats that will be in the production model) of a stationary VR simulator. It allows customers to interact with the vehicle's driver controls as if they were behind the wheel of the actual car.

The Lucid Motors Virtual Reality (VR) Experience (Photo: Lucid Motors)

Lucid is also launching a new website with comprehensive information about the Lucid Air to coincide with its global reveal, which is scheduled for September 9, 2020. 

Among the website's highlights is what Lucid claims is the "world's most advanced online vehicle configurator", where owners can customize their Air sedan car and view it from any angle. 

For any service needs that cannot be addressed remotely, Lucid is developing a service strategy using a service team that will come to a customer's location using mobile service vans. A nationwide network of service centers, mobile service providers, and certified collision repair centers will be linked to Lucid's customer care team to address any customer issue.

A Lucid smartphone app will allow owners to communicate with Lucid Motors for any reason, including for any service needs. Like Tesla's electric vehicles, the Lucid Air will support over-the-air (OTA) software updates, so every Lucid Air can always be kept up to date. 

The fully-electric Lucid Air Sedan 

Lucid Motors traces its roots back to Tesla, which will likely be its biggest rival. Before becoming CEO and CTO of Lucid Motors, Rawlinson was chief designer of the Tesla Model S and worked under Chief Executive Elon Musk. In 2013, Rawlinson joined Lucid Motors with a goal to build an electric car to rival the Tesla Model S, with a much more advanced electric powertrain and ultra-luxury features. The result was the Lucid Air.

In July 2019, Lucid Motors announced that it hired former Tesla vice president of manufacturing Peter Hochholdinger to serve as its vice president of vehicle manufacturing. Hochholdinger will oversee production of the Air sedan at Lucid's new factory in Casa Grande, Arizona, which is nearing completion.

The company claims the Air sedan is capable of reaching 0 to 60 mph in less than 2.5 seconds and travel over 400 miles of range per charge. Other features include a panoramic glass roof and a luxury interior inspired by executive jets with available reclining rear seats. The Air will also come with hardware to support autonomous driving in the future.

Production of the Air sedan was originally set to begin later this year in Arizona, however the coronavirus pandemic led Lucid to delay production until early 2021.

Lucid Motors is backed by a $1 billion investment in 2018 from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.