[hmp10]

Are any Dream Edition reservation holders switching their colors to Zenith Red now that it is available?

 

[hmp10]

Can we add fields for if you already receive been or confirm as well? I like to track delivery date for each reservation holder.

Until then --

I confirmed my order on the Lucid website on September 21 (Dream Edition Performance, Zenith Red, 21" wheels) and got a call from my sales rep a couple of hours later to tell me my "delivery advisor" would contact me shortly. The advisor called first thing on September 22 (8 a.m. her time), took all my registration information, discussed payment methods, and told me the car would be delivered to my home as Florida has not yet issued a dealer license to Lucid that would allow them to deliver from one of the two Design Studios or Service Centers in Florida. She said production would begin in two-to-four months.

She also told me that cars were being put into the production schedule based on date of order confirmation with a delivery advisor, not on date of reservation. As I was one of the first to confirm with a delivery advisor, she said my car would be one of the first produced. Putting all this together, I'm guessing (hoping for) delivery between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about getting such an early production car. But after over three years of waiting since I first reserved, I'll take it.

 

[hmp10]

If Lucid wanted to keep its start of production (SOP) date secret for the time being, I could see them saying SOP was not yet determined or not yet confirmed. However, I don't see what their motive would be to say SOP is two-to-four months out if they know it to be significantly sooner.

I guess you could argue they want to create a surprise to the upside by producing much earlier than they're saying . . . but that could just as easily be interpreted to mean they have been clueless about where they are in the start-up cycle.

I really don't see any reason why Lucid would see something to be gained by communicating false SOP dates.

 

[hmp10]

I think people are discounting just how much information there is about production issues still in play.

As recently as three weeks ago, "Motor Trend" was given a car for a test drive that was still due a front suspension recalibration as well as a hardware changeout on the anti-roll bars. Such things are not done-in-a-day things, as both changes will require validation and extensive testing before release.

Last week when my sales rep called me after I confirmed my order, I asked about a couple of engineering changes I had heard about, and she told me that there were still some engineering and design issues that had not reached final resolution. I heard the same thing when I raised these matters two days ago at the Miami Design Studio.

Just a couple of months ago -- already into the second half of the year during which cars are to be delivered -- Rawlinson said there were several hundred quality and design issues still being sorted out with suppliers and that Covid issues were still a problem in working with some of the vendors.

I find it revealing that Lucid would say SOP would be in two-to-four months. If they are planning to surprise to the upside, they could just as easily have said SOP in two months and then surprise us with an announcement that production was starting next week or next month.

Giving such a wide window for SOP suggests to me not the planning of a surprise, but that a lot of things are still more up in the air (no pun intended) than a lot of people realize and that Lucid still cannot pin down just when it is all likely to be resolved.

 

[hmp10]

I just looked at the reservation tracker to see which way color choices are falling. There are 60 non-Dream reservations reported. (I removed the Dream reservations, as that version offers a unique color but does not have the full choice of other colors.)

Of the 60 non-Dreams, the two most popular colors are Quantum Gray (22) and Zenith Red (16) -- meaning almost two-thirds (63%) of customers are choosing those two colors.

 

[hmp10]

Yeah, I get the feeling that Zenith Red throws some sort of monkey wrench into scheduling.

Perhaps it's because Zenith Red is the only color that uses a tinted clear coat (an annoyingly oxymoronic term). To Lucid's credit, they are using the more complicated two-phase process whereby a true clear coat is applied atop the tinted clear coat. But this also means more time in the paint shop than the other colors. (It also suggests a hell of a task for a body shop trying to match the original finish.)

Lucid says they use the tint to impart a smoky undertone to the color. Whatever that means, people who've seen the Zenith Red in person tend to rave about it.

 

[hmp10]

I called yesterday, and my Delivery Advisor said she had no update from the Production group since she told me a week ago my car was "in the early stages" of production. She did tell me that she was going to send an email to which I was to attach photos of the front and back of my driver's license, as she said that once the car hit a certain point in production things moved very quickly. I got that email about an hour ago, along with an attachment about the kind of wiring needed for Level 1 and 2 home charging . . . but nothing more about timing.

I do believe that things move quickly once a certain point in production is reached. My financial advisor got the call on Tuesday, November 2 that his car had entered production . He was given the VIN later that same week, and his car was available for delivery in Florida on Saturday, November 13. In fact, it all happened so quickly that he was not able to get down from his home base in New York to receive the car on the 13th, so he's taking delivery this coming Saturday.