Lucid Motors plans 20 locations to sell and service EVs by the end of 2021
The initial stores are solidly located in areas full of high earners.
Lucid Motors has long teased its first car, the Air, and the company recently set a debut date in September. But the car itself is just one component of establishing a new automaker -- after all, what good is a vehicle if you can't sell or service it?
Lucid Motors on Wednesday announced its plans for establishing sales and service centers in North America. The fledgling automaker hopes to have 20 different locations, which it calls Lucid Studios, in place by the end of 2021. Like Tesla , Lucid will sell its vehicles directly from factory to consumer, bypassing the franchised dealer model -- and likely setting itself up for regulatory hurdles in certain states in the process.
The stores will be purposefully established in locations "with relatively small footprints," as Lucid says in its release, but claustrophobes don't have to worry, because Lucid will permit fully digital sales, too. The renderings Lucid released show some pretty warm locations with lots of soft materials and lighting, a nod to the expensive stuff inside every Air. Those looking to stay online will be met with "the world's most advanced configurator," according to Lucid, and the company's app will help facilitate both purchases and servicing.
Speaking of service, it sounds like Lucid will build out quite the network. In addition to its own service centers, Lucid will make use of mobile service providers and collision repair centers to ensure owners aren't without their vehicles for too long.
Lucid's initial retail locations will be established in areas with plenty of high earners, focusing on the coasts. To the west, there'll be California locations in Beverly Hills, Century City, Newark and San Jose. To the east, you'll find studios in West Palm Beach, Florida, in addition to Tysons, Virginia and the Meatpacking District in New York.
We don't have too much longer to wait to see the Lucid Air in its production guise. Lucid Motors will host an unveiling event on Sept. 9, which was its fallback date after the New York Auto Show failed to materialize in 2020. The automaker has been hard at work getting the details dialed in, as we saw when it published a video of an 800-mile road trip across California. The Air is expected to top out around $100,000, with low-level models starting around $60,000, but of course Lucid will have more information as we approach the on-sale date.
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