Luxury 3-Row SUV Doubles Lucid Offerings
Grav•i•ty, n, 1: IMPORTANCE (Merriam-Webster)
As impressive as Lucid Air sedan is, it’s not enough to sustain a whole car company. That’s no secret and Lucid has been dropping hints about the coming Gravity SUV for some time. We got to see it in a sneak preview and briefing before the official LA Auto Show debut this week. It’s a well-crafted move into the heart of the market, but it won’t hit Lucid showrooms until late next year (2024). It’s importance to Lucid and the company’s survival cannot be overstated.
While the Lucid Gravity borrows some things from the Air (mainly attitude and some of its styling cues), at its core it is an entirely new vehicle, built on a new platform specifically designed as an SUV. The company’s attitude about the Lucid Graivty came through from senior vice president of design and brand Derek Jenkins: “We thought there was still an opportunity to optimize the SUV.”
The Lucid view of SUV optimization entails a three-row midsize (externally, more on that in a minute) electric luxury SUV with 440 miles of range starting at under $80,000. It will offer some off-road capability (but “not a rock crawler” according to Jenkins), performance that’s become a Lucid trademark and styling that uses the car’s sub-0.24 coefficient of drag to present a profile that echoes curved arches of the Air.
Like the Air, one key secret of the Gravity is what I’ll call the size conundrum. From outside appearances, the Gravity is a midsize, three-row SUV, similar in size to Audi’s Q7 or Mercedes’ GLS. When you step inside, because of Lucid’s packaging acumen, it’s a size larger. Taking advantage of the space gained by electrification of the drivetrain, specifically compact nature of Lucid’s power drive units, the seven-passenger Gravity claims it can actually seat seven adults in all three rows—and has space for luggage (maybe not for seven adults, but the point is well-taken).
The conundrum continaues with the Gravity powertrain. Starting with the batteries, which Lucid disclosed very little about, other than to say that inspite of the superior range (440 miles) expected, the size of the pack would be half that of competitors with less range. Similarly, Lucid electric motors remain among the most energy dense on the market for their size. It all bodes well for the Gravity, since SUVs are best when offering space without bulk.
Frunk-gating
The extra interior space offers one big surprise. The frunk (front truck) found in some EVs is real surprise-and-delight feature. Ford’s Mach-E hit social media by using its frunk as a cooler able hold beverages on ice for an impromptu party. The Gravity takes the concept a step further by providing a frunk large enough and configured so it could serve (with some specially designed accessories) as a two person bench for what the Lucid folks are proposing to call—frunk-gating. We’ll see if it catches on, but we can confirm it does work—and is actually a comfortable spot to sit. The embedded speakers are a nice touch, too.
In the cabin the space is evident throughout, but the second row with its airplane-style trays is particularly functional. When not hauling humans, the two rows store flat, 112 cubic feet of flat-floored storage.
Up front, Lucid took a divergent approach compared to its sedan. A 34-inch curved OLED display floats above the dash while an additional 12.6-inch drops down over the center console, a higher position and different configuration than found in the Air. For better visibility, Lucid is moving to a yoke-style steering wheel. Software has been updated for this third-generation under interface.
Sporty Performance
Lucid promises aggressive performance from the next generation of its efficient, power-dense motors, topping out with 0-60 times of less than 3.5 seconds while also being capable of towing 6,000 pounds in top trim. The electric architecture of Gravity is built, like the Air, on a 900V system for fast charging. With a 350 kW DC fast-charger, Gravity should be able to add 200 miles of range in about 15 minutes. An air suspension package designed for off-road driving will also be offered.
Based on CEO Peter Rawlinson’s comments at the LA Auto Show introduction, we suspect the sub-$80,000 model may not have all those capabilities and might be a RWD model rather than AWD, a strategy the company used to reduce prices in the Air.
Beyond Driving
Lucid will also offer some new “well-being” features in the Gravity—Lucid Sanctuary and Lucid Spaces. The two settings change lighting and screens and use the Dolby Atmos sound system to deliver what Lucid calls a “detox mode” to produce less distracted driving. It was suggested that there will even be guided meditation offered, for instance, to be used while the car is charging.
Production of the Gravity is planned to start in late 2024. Lucid invites interested customers to sign up for updates here.
