Lucid Air deliveries postponed to second half of 2021

• Startup carmaker Lucid is not going to produce its first electrical sedans this spring right after all. 
• Lucid’s CEO stated in a letter that manufacturing will be postponed owing to COVID-19-related delays. 
• Lucid aims to begin output as early as it can in the 2nd 50 percent of 2021.
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Startup automaker Lucid has postponed the initial deliveries of its debut electrical car or truck, the 2021 Lucid Air. Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson announced the news in a letter on Friday, blaming COVID-19-relevant difficulties for the delay. 

“Even with the excellent development made in all parts, we now know that we will never be in a position to commence offering Lucid Air this spring at the stage of top quality we insist on supplying,” Rawlinson said. “I am wholly committed to offering a amazing electric auto. If this indicates it will just take a bit additional time, the this is what we have to do.”

Lucid aims to start out manufacturing as early as it can in the next 50 % of 2021, Rawlinson said. Previously the corporation stated that prospects would begin acquiring their sedans this spring. Lucid’s best executive claimed the pandemic has influenced the startup’s testing activities, supply chain, and its preparations for gross sales and service.

The Air, a pricey luxury sedan, is established to contend immediately with the Tesla Model S when it hits the streets. And, at least on paper, it appears that Lucid could give Elon Musk’s automaker a run for its income if it is ready to scale up output. 

Lucid suggests the top-tier version of the Air will have an approximated selection of 517 miles. At the time of the announcement, that was substantially additional than any automobile Tesla available. Tesla has because introduced a “Plaid Moreover” edition of the Model S that it promises will have 520 miles of array. 

Lucid also made a splash when it declared in October that the entry-degree Air sedan would expense $69,900 immediately after federal tax credits, undercutting the most inexpensive Product S by a few thousand pounds. That exact working day, Musk explained Tesla would reduce the price tag of the Product S to $69,420. 

The upstart business introduced Monday that it will go general public via a reverse merger at an preliminary valuation of $24 billion. It will develop the Air at a plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, and has ideas for a potential SUV and a more very affordable sedan to rival the Tesla Product 3.