Peter Rawlinson and Derek Jenkins are pleased. Pleased with themselves, and pleased with the product they?ve created. Formerly known to the world as ?that car Atieva?s working on,? the company’s new automobile is officially known as the Lucid Air, which, perhaps, is the least interesting thing about it. It has a Koenigsseggian 1000 horsepower and the interior space of a Mercedes-Benz S-class, boasts a claimed maximum range of 400 miles, and, most important, features hidden headlamps.
The brief for the Air was to pack hypercar power and performance into an autonomous-capable EV with S-class interior space, with exterior dimensions smaller than Tesla?s Model S. To achieve that end, Lucid enlisted former Lotus, Jaguar, and Tesla engineer Rawlinson and designer Jenkins, whose last two projects at Mazda were the 10Best-winning ND Miata and the CX-9. To accomplish their mission here, Rawlinson?s team set to work on what he terms a ?sculpted? battery pack. Like the Model S, the Air carries its hefty complement of cells under the floor of the vehicle. But while Tesla?s implementation favors a straightforward flat pack, Lucid?s places the cells in such a way that makes for lower footwell heights. The 600-hp rear powerplant and the 400-horse drive unit are tightly integrated with the suspension modules, tidily packed into subframes that attach to the aluminum unibody, optimizing room in the passenger compartment and cargo areas. Lucid claims that the 100-kWh pack, which will s...