Lucid Cuts Air Prices Again Because Demand Is Still Lower Than Expected

Lucid is dropping the price on its flagship and sole vehicle (for now), the Air sedan, because demand just isn’t where the nascent automaker needs it to be. Three trims of the Air — the Pure, Touring and Grand Touring — will all see varying degrees of price cuts.

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The base model Air Pure rear-wheel drive will now start at $71,400 including destination, a $7,500 price cut that makes it cheaper than the Tesla Model S. The Air Touring all-wheel drive starts at $79,400, an $8,000 reduction, and the Grand Touring will now start at $111,400, $1,000 less than before. The bonkers 1,234-horsepower Air Sapphire unfortunately will not see a price cut; it still starts at a cool quarter-million bucks. Regardless, Lucid has clearly seen it needs to boost sales, especially as it prepares to launch its second vehicle, the Gravity crossover.

Even with the price drops the Air still isn’t close enough to qualify for the $7,500 federal tax incentive, because sedans have a price cap of $55,000 under the IRS’s new rules. However, there’s an exception for leasing, meaning you can still get that sweet, sweet $7,500 tax break that way.

From a sales standpoint Lucid is not really having a great time right now. In December just 675 Airs were registered in the U.S., according to Automotive News. That’s still a 33 percent gain when compared to the same time a year prior. Overall, 6,254 Airs were registered in 2023, an 87-percent year-over-year improvement. However, that number still fell below Lucid’s own sales forecasts.

Here’s more from AutoNews on where the EV market is right now, and why it feels like EV prices have been coming down substantially.

An oversupply of battery-electric vehicles and a price war started by Tesla 13 months ago have pressured prices across the full-EV segment, analysts say.

Cox Automotive reported Tuesday that Tesla’s average transaction price was down 20 percent in January compared with the year-earlier month and EV transaction prices were down 11 percent across the industry.

”Higher inventory and slowing sales have pushed automakers and dealers to layer on the discounts in an effort to spur sales,” Cox said in its Feb. 12 report on new-vehicle transaction prices.

Still, the EV market is not bad for everyone. Mercedes-Benz, one of Lucid’s main rivals, set a new EV sales record in Q4 of 2023 and said that 15 percent of its overall passenger vehicle sales were electric cars. Not too shabby. Additionally, in January Hyundai’s EV sales jumped 42 percent from the prior year.