Lucid to Open its First Washington DC Metro Area Studio This Weekend

author: FutureCar Staff    

The Lucid Studios will support the company's direct-to-customer sales strategy.

Newly listed electric automaker Lucid Group will open its third east coast Studio in the Washington DC Metro Area Saturday Nov 6. The Studio is located in the Tysons Corner Center shopping mall, which is the seventh largest mall in the U.S.

The new Washington DC location follows the opening of the Lucid Studio in Florida and most recently in New York City.

The Washington DC area Studio is Lucid's 11th in the U.S. as the automaker continues to expand its retail footprint. Among the Lucid Studio locations are a Silicon Valley Studio at Lucid's Global Headquarters in Newark, California.

Like the business model of its rival Tesla, Lucid will not have a network of dealerships. The Studios serve as showrooms where customers can experience the company's Lucid Air luxury-electric sedan up close and in-person, view the various color and interior design options and learn more about the company's electric vehicle technology.

"Opening at one of the largest malls in the nation, which is also located in a strong electric vehicle market, will provide excellent exposure for the Lucid Air and help us to further our mission to inspire the adoption of sustainable energy." said Zak Edson, Senior Director, Sales and Service, Lucid Group.

Every Lucid Studio offers a digitally oriented experience tailored to each customer's preferences, whether they visit in-person, make inquiries entirely online, or combine the two. 

Lucid Studios offer a unique 4K VR configurator called the "Lucid Virtual Reality Experience". Customers can put on a pair of VR goggles and experience the Lucid Air sedan as if they were sitting behind the wheel of the car, including finishes and materials, as well as all of the interior and exterior color choices. 

Lucid also offers a similar virtual reality experience online. Online, customers can also take advantage of "Lucid Studio Live," a cloud-based configuration solution powered by ZeroLight's Concierge product. With Lucid Studio Live, customers can virtually interact with a car while a Lucid representative guides them through key features and configuration options. 

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

The Lucid Air is the company's first vehicle and officially launched in September. Deliveries of the limited production Lucid Air Dream Edition to reservation holders began last week. The Dream Edition is already sold out, but Lucid offers three other versions, including the least expensive and very well-equipped  Lucid Air Pure, which starts at $77,400. The Lucid Air Touring starts at $95,000 the top-of-the-line Lucid Air Grand Touring, starting at $139,000. All versions of the Air are eligible for the federal EV tax credit of $7,500.

The Lucid Air Dream Edition is also the world's longest range EV, with an EPA estimated range of 520 miles, which is over 100 miles more than Tesla's Model S, a vehicle that will be a close competitor to the Lucid Air sedan.

Lucid plans to deliver 520 customer-configured Lucid Air Dream Editions first, then begin deliveries of Lucid Air Grand Touring versions. Deliveries of the Touring and Pure models are anticipated during 2022.

The Air is being built at Lucid's factory in Casa Grande, Arizona near Phoenix. The plant is dubbed the "Advanced Manufacturing Plant 1" (AMP-1) and its the first auto factory in the U.S. purposefully built from the ground up to produce only battery-powered vehicles.

The site is also home to the Lucid Powertrain Manufacturing (LPM-1) where the company will build electric motors and other components for Lucid's electric vehicles. 

Lucid Group is one of the most talked about electric vehicle startups since Tesla went public in June 2010. CEO & CTO Rawlinson is a former Tesla employee and worked under Elon Musk as chief designer of the Tesla Model S before joining Lucid. He set out to build an electric car that's more advanced than Tesla's vehicles and the result was the Air sedan.

Rawlinson said in the past that the ultra-luxurious and high-performance Lucid Air sedan will be the "world's most advanced electric car" and will define Lucid as a company. He's betting that Lucid's advanced powertrain technology and state-of-the-art factory will set the automaker apart from rivals like Tesla, Porsche and Mercedes Benz. 

Lucid launched its U.S. IPO in July after completing its merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Churchill Capital Corp IV on July 23. Lucid Group's shares are listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol "LCID."

Additional Lucid Studio locations will continue to open as the automaker expands its presence in North America and globally. 

FutureCar Staff