Lucid has temporarily parked a fleet of 40 prototypes for its Air electric sedan and, apparently trying to make the most of the situation, it's released a short video showing the whole fleet of cars parked together.
The Air was originally scheduled to appear in production-ready form at the 2020 New York Auto Show, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. Lucid continued development work in order to get the Air ready for production, however.
The temporary halt to on-road testing hasn't delayed production so far, a Lucid spokesperson told Green Car Reports. Engineers are working from home to freeze designs in anticipation of production.
Continued development work at Lucid's Newark, California, headquarters could restart in June, but will depend on guidelines from the same county, Alameda, that Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently railed against.
Lucid doesn't intend to build production cars in California, though. Last month provided an update on progress at its Casa Grande, Arizona, factory, and said it doesn't expect much of a delay for intended deliveries early next year.
Lucid Air
Work on the factory has already restarted with precautions to protect workers, and with the approval of local officials, the spokesperson said, adding that Lucid has scheduled shipments of manufacturing equipment.
Lucid hasn't indicated when the production Air will first appear, but it continues to reveal details about the electric sedan.
In a recent interview with IEEE Spectrum, CEO Peter Rawlinson boasted of the company's in-house design for the inverter of the car and suggested its permanent-magnet motor will behave like an induction motor during cruising.
These are further indications that the Air will emphasize efficiency to a greater degree than its two main rivals—the Tesla Model S and Porsche Taycan.
Last month, Lucid teased that the Air will have a real-world range of 400 miles—not just an EPA range rating of 400 miles or more. The company said one of its now-parked prototypes completed that distance without charging on California highways.
In March, Lucid said it would sell cars through company-owned showrooms, similar to Tesla. At the time, the company said these showrooms would be located in high-end areas, based on the locations of reservations for the Air.