Lucid plans nine showrooms by the end of the year for its electric car

Lucid just announced its Lucid Air retail strategy, nine specific retail network locations, and plans for future growth.

Lucid has been been in the news almost every week this year. It just announced how it’s focusing on a direct-to-consumer model for the sale of its Lucid Air. A source of mine says California-based Marmol Radziner will partner with Lucid to design a network of retail locations. Lucid will unveil the Air in New York in April. We will then find out about the vehicle’s final interior and exterior designs, new details on production specifications, available configurations, and pricing.

Lucid showrooms and experience centers

The Lucid Air will start production at the end of 2020. In order to facilitate sales, Lucid plans to build more showrooms in California, and it wants to make sure the showrooms reflect colors and materials associated with the Golden State. Those same colors and materials will be used for the Air. I spoke with interior designer Sue Magnusson years ago about Lucid’s choice of color and materials. They are warm and everything you would think California represents. I told her it would be a great selling point for northern European countries, especially in the brief daylight of winter days.

The EV startup says its showrooms are technology hubs showing the company’s integrated digital experience. The Virtual Reality Experience will make use of physical and virtual worlds with VR technology. Potential buyers can see the Air inside and out.

On the technical side of things, the Air will use over-the-air (OTA) for immediate upgrades and firmware. It will support remote diagnostics troubleshooting, as well as predictive warning diagnostics. Using this, the Air can plan repairs if needed. Lucid says service teams will handle service via both physical locations and digital diagnostics, as well as updates. We also found out Lucid plans on a mobile service van fleet, certified partners for roadside assistance, and collision repairs.

Lucid Air

Peter Rawlinson, CEO, and CTO of Lucid Motors, said:

We thoughtfully developed Lucid’s retail strategy to provide customers with very specific experiences when they enter our showrooms and speak with our representatives. From the materials they view and touch, the experience of the VR configurator, the design of the showrooms in the context of the vehicles they’ll contain, even the physical locations of the showrooms themselves, everything comes together for our customers to allow them to absorb and appreciate the values infused into the Lucid brand.

Jean-Marie Tritant, president, US, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, said:

We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Lucid to provide destinations for consumers to experience the future of luxury electric automobiles in-person. Lucid’s focus on sustainability aligns with our company’s commitment to creating better places, and the brand’s innovative and service oriented attributes fit perfectly within our flagship shopping destinations in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. As we continue to bring a new mix of tenants to our centers and explore the vanguard of experiences for guests, forward-thinking companies like Lucid are seeing the benefit of our global platform to create unique, authentic connections with customers.

The Air’s Showrooms locations

We recently wrote that Lucid opened its first showroom at its Silicon Valley headquarters in Newark, California. We’re told eight additional showrooms are expected to open in 2020. The company says construction is under way for several of them. Cities outside of California are New York City, Miami, and West Palm Beach’s Rosemary Square. The other Californian cities include Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose, Westfield Century City in Los Angeles, as well as other locations in Los Angeles and Orange County.

The Lucid Newark and Beverly Hills showrooms will be service centers. The company says more service centers and showrooms will open in 2021 in New York, Florida, Washington, DC, Chicago, Orange County, and San Diego. And the surprise is that Europe is mentioned, but the company hasn’t revealed any countries as of yet.

Lucid Air Beta testing

One of Lucid’s many strengths is its battery development. Its involvement with Formula E through its Atieva racing arm puts the EV startup in an ideal position. Lucid says it’s able to offer unmatched energy density and highly efficient electric motors. This is tested on 80 beta prototypes.

Lucid has started taking reservations for the Air. I am told users will be able to use an online configurator later this year to place orders online. That will be part of the full suite of digital experiences offered at the showrooms and online.