Drove a Lucid Air & Toured the Factory
 

Hey Guys,

Lucid has a factory in Casa Grande, AZ. They had an invite only event for the press and local government.

I work for an organization that supports manufacturers. I have seen countless manufacturing operations, Aerospace & Defense, High-Tech, Start-ups, Multi-Billion Dollar operations. I've seen some pretty cool stuff. I have a few manufacturers that I support that are in the automotive space, but being in Arizona, there are no auto manufacturers.... well until now.

My expert take on Lucid's operations.... F*&CKING AMAZING.

I was also there for the ground breaking ceremony, which was just a tent in the middle of nowhere... That was only a two years ago.

There facility, nothing really to look at from the outside, but as soon as you go in the doors your realize this is far from a half arsed operation.

I wish I could have taken pictures of the manufacturing process but obviously we were not allowed.

I saw everything from the aluminum panels first being fitted to each to via spot welding, adhesive, and state of the art laser welding. Huge robots moving parts around at each station. Robot transport from station to station. The first building was where they put together the body and it was spotless, super organized, with quality control stations every where. When done in the first building a huge robot arm would pick up the entire body and lift it up to the second floor where there was a transport system that took it to the next building.

The second building was for paint and final assembly. Unfortunately, we were not able to see the painting process but we saw everything regarding assembly. Interior installation, dashboard, seats, doors, wheels, suspension, fluid fill up, and people driving them off of the line!

They had huge tunnels full of light tubes for inspections, driving testing stations to set up and check the autonomous driving tech, complete wheel alignment, etc.

I was expecting to see something being covered up, hiding of something. But there was nothing being hidden. Production was happening! And it was high quality production.

After the tour of the second building we went outside and there Lucid Airs lined up for us to drive. I jumped in the back seat, my buddy jumped in the drivers seat, and there was a Lucid employee who was a suspension and brake engineer in the passenger seat explaining to us how the car worked. I thought we were just going to be driving on some closed course. Nope we went on the freeway, and drove for miles, half way through it was my turn. We were in the top model, a gold Lucid Air Dream with 1100 hp! The interior was absolutely beautiful. The materials were of the utmost quality. Alcantara, napa leather, perforated seats, all of the bells and whistles.

Yes, you may not like the way it looks, but you would definitely respect the materials and the quality of the car. It drove amazing. The fastest car I have ever driven. The Lucid guy was super cool. Teaching us everything about the car and letting us take off quick, and corner fast, trying out the breaks etc. I can not get over how instantaneous the power was. I'm sure it is just like a Tesla.

The engineer was telling us all about the electronic suspension, and how it reacts to the road, and he was not joking, seriously, it is crazy smooth. We went over rumble strips and you could feel that the car was reacting to it and cut the vibration by atleast 3/4 compared to a normal car.

Anyway, I can go on and on about the car. I think a few take-aways. Super high quality, no joke production facility, crazy performance, serious range some models over 500 miles, and all over 475 I believe, drives beautifully, super smooth, stays flat in the curves and sticks. Great interior materials, as far as the interior goes they are competing with Mercedes not Tesla.

Some elephant's in the room which I'm sure you guys will all talking about. It is expensive, where is the SUV, will they be able to get customers to buy?

Here are some pics from the event, and a pic of me behind the wheel!

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It even looks good. I love it!

Thanks.

Lower placement the IPAD center console seems better than the tesla. Appears more mature, less distracting.

The tight clearance and design of the front upper joints is a pleasure to look at.

Exciting! I’ve seen all their job postings, looks like they are really ramping up. I’d consider applying if it wasn’t so bloody far out there to CG! 🤣

LS swap!! :)

Thanks for the report! I'd never even heard of them until a week or so ago.
Interesting to see the underpinnings.

Best
Les

Funny, you say that because I'm just the opposite. Don't get me wrong, I think they did a great job on design but I don't like the iPad low. Looking down for anything is not good for my driving (maybe its a woman thing;)). I like everything as close to eye level as possible. One of the thing I like most about most of these new BEV cars is the simplicity of the dashes. I don't want lots of buttons. I want easy to use close at hand controls.

I drive 300-400 miles a day. The Lucid's range is really tempting.

Disclosure: we do own a Tesla Model 3 and I have a Plaid on order. That said, I see the EV market as really interesting and love seeing all the new models coming out. Can't wait to see a Lucid on the road!

I love seeing new stuff like this, thanks for posting Rodney. You said "your expert take," what do you do?

Car looks beautiful though I think the contrasting hood smile is a little too much. The lower alone would have been interesting and more subtle, elegant.

I like the '20s Art Deco lettering, timeless design for something new and exciting.

If they had only selected wheels that didn’t come from a Honda Accord.

Someone had to say it.

so Rodney, buy it or not?

I have an Audi eTron and hold reservations on CyberTruck and Rivian.

good eye!

Here’s my big question:
How, exactly do you entice a skilled and motivated workforce for a relatively large startup factory like this one?
How to incentivize while at the same time running a (financially) balanced factory?
What I have observed in highly automated manufacturing over the last 10 years is that it is increasingly difficult to attract and retain people that are even remotely capable of doing these jobs. So what’s Lucid’s model? Are they employing significantly over-qualified workers? Are they hiring valedictorian aerospace engineers to do the manufacturing jobs - and paying according to background and training level?
If that’s the case - does the business model support this as a long-term op’s strategy?
I hear these stories, and think it’s really cool - but just don’t understand how they can establish standards that are so different from (adjacent?) industry norms.

Impressive, nonetheless!

I'm as old school as you can get. I likes me some buttons/knobs. Funny, as I was writing my comment, I was thinking, perhaps a touch screen is better at eye level for use compared to the lower dash placement, but I'm old school. I'd still buy that new lotus regardless.

But for most part, me big stubborn dinosaur! :D

The grille/smile is awful. The rest is pretty nice looking even if a bit generic. The undercarriage looks really great, but IDK a single damn thing about that.

Far better looking than a Tesla!

Amazing car. Great range ! Until EV cars get at least 400 miles on a charge, not many will buy them. I just drove 5000 miles across America on vacation and we did not see any EV cars out of the cities. Also, there is no charging infrastructure .

Are you asking about manufacturing labor? Or maintenance? Or engineering?

1990C4S:
All of the above.
My experience has shown that manufacturing labor is very difficult to obtain for “labor” wages. Maintenance and Engineering - similar issues.
So - what I suspect is that the initial draw of working for a charismatic brand may have some draw. Or, perhaps Lucid is incentivizing those positions above typical labor rates.
Seems like a really cool place to work, and has the makings of a “dream job”. I just question whether the situation is short-term, or if they are able to manage that level of engagement and collaboration from the workforce for the duration. If so - that would be wonderful!

Bought their stock last week after talking with the sales folks at their “store” in Scottsdale. 500+ mile range verified by EPA, fast charging (20 min to 300 miles), and their motor technology. Good looking to boot.