Lucid Air Pure Is The Luxury EV Every Buyer Should Cross-Shop
Electric vehicles in general are a bit of a rock and a hard place right now. According to a USA Today article, electric vehicle sales have dropped by nearly 24 percent within the first half of 2026 thanks to the dissolving of the EV federal tax credit. From a global standpoint, electric vehicles make up 25 percent of total car sales. However, people are still buying EVs, and if you have an at-home charger, it is still cheaper than owning a gas-powered vehicle.
Of course, when you think of an electric vehicle, you think of Tesla, Rivian, or any number of Hyundai/Kia products. In the grand scheme of automakers (excluding Rivian), there is one new company in the pack that is often overlooked, but shouldn’t be. Lucid Motors started delivering vehicles in 2021 and now offers two different luxury electric vehicles to choose from. They recently came out with a more “base” variant called the Pure. We’re going to go over why you shouldn’t overlook this model.
The Base Model Offers More Than The Average Base
The Lucid Air premiered for the 2022 model year. It now has an SUV variant. Like any new automaker, this California-based company had a lot to prove. The Pure trim was always supposed to be the base model for the lineup, the Touring the mid-tier, and the Grand-Touring the most prestigious. However, there wasn’t really anything “base” about a car that cost $87,400 and had over 600 horsepower.
So, to mitigate this issue, they dropped the AWD drivetrain for a RWD one and ended up forgoing about 200-some-odd horsepower in favor of 430 horsepower. This dropped the price significantly for the 2024 model year down to $73,150, offering less of a barrier to buyers that wanted a more luxurious EV over the rest of the market.
At $70,900, The Pure Beats The BMW i5 On Range And Value
The blistering fast, top-of-the-line Lucid Air Sapphire has a starting MSRP of $249,000, give or take. Not everybody is looking for that price tag or that much power. Therefore, the Air Pure has a starting MSRP of around $70,900. The Touring, on the other hand, has a starting MSRP of $79,900. This is a substantial $9,000 difference between the two.
If we are talking cross-shopping, then this also challenges some of its all-electric competitors, like the BMW i5, because even though the BMW costs almost $4,000 less, you do end up getting more range and a few more features. If you are cross-shopping with a gas-powered luxury car like a Mercedes-Benz E-Class, then the Lucid Air Pure lands squarely in the middle. If used models are more your speed, then you could also opt for a used one. According to Kelley Blue Book, a fair purchase price for a 2022 Lucid Air is going to be around $36,600.
No Glass Roof, No AWD — But Here’s What You Keep
Let’s talk about what this shares with the rest of the lineup. It has the same aluminum body structure with a 34-inch 5K resolution curved glass cockpit screen. It also features a substantially large 10 cubic foot frunk. While it doesn’t have a full glass roof like some of the other trims, it does come with a lighter aluminum roof that also helps reduce cabin heat and inevitably saves energy. You won’t find any soft-closing doors; instead, you’ll find manual latches. The biggest trade-off, though, is the all-wheel drive drivetrain and the 620 horsepower for a single rear motor setup.
Efficiency Rather Than Excess
The power swap is probably the biggest change you’re going to find from the Touring and up compared to the Pure. It still has an impressive EPA rated range of 420 miles and the ability to give you 200 miles on a fast charger within 16 minutes. It’s not like this thing is slow, however, because it does make 430 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque to its rear motor. That gives it a zero to 60 time of 4.5 seconds, which is comparable to anything with a sports badge on it.
420 Miles From An 84 kWh Pack: How Lucid’s Efficiency Beats Bigger Batteries
It does have the range! Because no matter which trim you choose, you’re going to get more mileage out of any Lucid compared to anything else on the market, save some of GM’s full-size SUV products. Giving the Lucid this incredible range is an 84 kWh battery pack. Some of the other top-of-the-line models have a 118 kilowatt-hour battery pack and boast over 500 miles of total range. That’s just as much as some hybrids on the market right now, and it helps a lot of customers with range anxiety.
The Pure’s Single Motor Unlocks More Rear Legroom Than The AWD Models
The Lucid Air has a cavernous interior with a whopping 45.4 inches of front legroom and 37.6 inches in the back seat. This is thanks to a proprietary 16-module battery pack that allows it to have deeper rear foot wells that Lucid refers to as “sculpted foot garages.” A funny name for a more comfortable back seat. What you end up getting is about an inch more legroom compared to the dual-motor variants.
Comparing It To Rivals
Next to its outright performance, probably one of the biggest selling points of the Lucid Air Pure is its overall range. We cannot stress enough how impressive it is to feature420 miles over something like the Tesla Model S that only has 402 miles to speak of. Sure, the Tesla Model S will no longer be on sale after the 2026 model year, but you’re still getting more for your money with a brand-new Lucid that costs far less than even a year-old Model S, and with a better interior and more features.
The Taycan Costs More, Goes Less Far, And Has $12,000 Brake Bills
Of course, Tesla is not the only brand Lucid has to go up against. Probably one of its biggest competitors is the Porsche Taycan. Even then, the Taycan base is more expensive, has less range, and fewer horsepower. You could buy a subcompact SUV for the price difference between the two. We will get into maintenance costs for the Lucid, but they are far less than those for the Porsche. Brakes are a prime example. If you get the carbon ceramic brakes for the Porsche Taycan, they could easily run you anywhere between $5,000 and $12,000.
Real Wood, Metal Toggles, And Vegan Leather — The Interior That Punches Above Tesla And BMW
Lucid vehicles really have gorgeous interiors. You can really tell a luxury car by the attention to detail on the interior, especially when it comes to the touchpoints. Even though the interior is mostly made up of screens, there are still metal toggles on the steering wheel. They also utilize sustainable materials like vegan leather and woven textiles, not to mention real wood grain dashboards instead of plastic.
Does Newcomer Mean A Long-lasting Presence?
The luxury electric car segment is a tough space to be in right now. First, electric car sales are cooling off, and second, sedan sales aren’t what they used to be. However, Lucid is keeping up with the pack, as it is selling at just under the same volume that the Tesla Model S did last year. They even offer hands-free driving! According to market data, sales of the Lucid Air go far above those of competitors like the BMW i7 and the Mercedes-Benz EQE sedan. The Tesla Model S outsold it last year, but with the cancellation of the Model S, this crown now sits firmly on the Lucid Air’s head.
Servicing Your Lucid Air Pure
Lucid suggests that you maintain your Air every year or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. According to a Lucid forum, maintaining it could cost anywhere between $400 and $900. This is about average for a luxury sedan and is far less than some of its competitors.
Surprisingly, JD Power has yet to give it a reliability rating. However, NHTSA has given a five-star overall crash test rating. It also comes with a pretty decent warranty plan with four years or 50,000 miles for a basic warranty or eight years and 100,000 miles for the battery. The latter warranty is comparable to the warranties of Toyota and Hyundai.
Sources: Lucid, Porsche, Tesla, NHTSA, IIHS, J.D. Power
Related posts
Latest Post
No Comments