Tesla remains the EV maker to beat, but Lucid is taking its chances against its fellow American company with plans to expand its lineup to include three affordable EVs, according to the company’s Senior VP of Design and Brand.
Lucid entered the auto market with the high-end Air saloon, which was out of reach for many EV hopefuls. However, Senior VP of Design and Brand Derek Jenkins revealed in an interview with CarBuzz that Lucid is releasing three more affordable models to better compete with Tesla. They will cost less than $50,000.
Jenkins said the new EVs will target younger car buyers when they arrive in 2026.
However, despite the lower price tag, Jenkins said the upcoming EVs, part of what he calls the “mid-size program,” will be “more athletic vehicles.”
Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y are both selling like hotcakes, so it is clear Lucid will follow suit by releasing competing models. However, the identity of the third model is still a mystery.
However, Jenkins might have hinted at a rugged EV. He said, “The off-road space is going to continue to morph and evolve. You’re going to have products that are trying to cater to the fringe of off-roading, like rock crawling, and then you have your normal crossover products.”
What Jenkins made clear was that some of the tech from the Air, the most efficient EV on the market, will trickle down to the new EVs despite costing less. “We’re working on our mid-size program right now, and of course, these are going to be compact, lighter vehicles with every bit of focus on aero, efficiency, and space. It’s not going to be as quick as Air, but it’s going to be impressive, and it’s going to be at a value that many more people can access. The whole idea is to take our technology and hit a wider swathe of consumers and accelerate that transition.”
