After a few weeks of not-so-subtle hints, Lucid has taken off the wraps on their latest Air variant at Monterey Car Week, unveiling a “luxury super-sports sedan” called the Air Sapphire.
The electric supercar has some impressive stats that should make it one of the fastest electric vehicles (EVs) on the road when it starts deliveries in early 2023.
The Lucid Air Sapphire is a tri-motor variant, with two electric motors powering each rear wheel, and the third motor powering the front wheels. The exact figures aren’t available yet, but Lucid says that setup produces over 1,200 horsepower, allowing the Sapphire to reach 60mph in under 2 seconds and 100mph in under 4 seconds.
On the drag strip, the Sapphire will complete the quarter mile in under 9 seconds. Lucid says exact figures “along with instrumented demonstrations of the incredible performance capabilities of the vehicle” will be announced later.
Lucid explains the Air Sapphire will not require “protracted preconditioning routines” to achieve this level of performance.
Beyond the impressive power, the Sapphire’s dual rear motors allows for torque-vectoring making it quick through the corners as well.
“The twin rear-drive unit can effectively pivot the rear of the vehicle, providing torque to the rear wheels in opposite directions to promote either turn-in or straight-line stability – similar to a brake-based setup and a rear-wheel steering system, but faster, quieter, and more seamless. In tight corners, the system is able to apply regenerative braking on the inside wheel while powering the outside, greatly enhancing vehicle turn-in rotation and with much quicker response times than rear-wheel steering systems.”
All that power requires heavy duty brakes, so the Air Sapphire is equipped as standard with carbon ceramic disc brakes. The suspension has stiffer springs and bushings, and unique damper settings allowing it retain similar ride quality to the Air sedan.
On the outside the Air Sapphire will come in a new Sapphire Blue paint colour, exclusive to the Sapphire line. It is also equipped with new Sapphire wheels with removable aero covers and staggered Michelin PS4 tires.
The interior also comes in an exclusive Sapphire Mojave theme with “new highly bolstered 18-way power sport seats, upholstered in black leather trimmed with black Alcantara and Sapphire Blue contrast stitching.”
All of this will come at a price. The Lucid Air Sapphire will cost $249,000 USD and $325,000 CAD. Reservations open Tuesday, August 23, 2022 at 9:00am Pacific Time with deliveries expected to begin in early 2023.
