Lucid Motors factory under construction in Arizona
This facility is where the company will build its stylish Air four-door sedan.
Remember Lucid Motors? It's OK if you don't. The company, based in Newark, California, near San Francisco, is one of a seemingly endless number of startup automakers attempting break into the electric-car market. But before it can start selling EVs, it needs to break something else, namely ground.
And that's exactly what's happened. Lucid has begun construction of a vehicle assembly plant in Casa Grande, Arizona. The facility is expected to be up and running at about this time in next year. Grading of land began in September and workers are now shoring up the factory's foundation. Highlighting some of its progress, the automaker released an exceedingly short video clip showing a bit of site preparation work.
Once it's up and running, this Arizona production facility will be home to the Air, Lucid's all-electric sedan, a car with a claimed driving range of more than 400 miles. Acceleration from a dead stop to 60 mph will supposedly take less than 2.5 seconds, with a top speed exceeding 200 mph.
If that's not enough, the Air will also feature an expansive cabin with available reclining rear seats, advanced voice recognition capability, an air-suspension system and autonomous driving capability enabled by eventual over-the-air software updates. If this makes it sound like a generic-brand Tesla Model S, you aren't the only one to think that.
Looking like something from the future, Lucid's Air is wrapped in sleek bodywork, with a gently arcing roofline and flush-mounted door handles. Graced with a spacious cabin, this four-door is built atop an electric-drive platform that was developed in-house. For a low center of gravity, the car's expansive battery pack is mounted under the floor.
Making sure Lucid has enough proverbial gas in its financial tank, the company has received significant financial support from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. The kingdom invested more than $1 billion dollars in Lucid to spur development and production of the Air sedan.
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