With the Air electric vehicle taking first place in the best luxury car category, Lucid comes out on top. This year, the automaker with headquarters in California had to contend with some tough competition, which, unexpectedly, didn’t even include a particular business. Tesla and Lucid are the two automakers that typically come to mind when discussing the top EV firms based in the United States. The more well-known name out of the two is Tesla.
Tesla is among the most established of the leading EV businesses in America, having been around since 2001. A business called Atieva, however, entered the scene six years after its inception and attracted as much notice as an EV passing by. The battery technology company didn’t start garnering attention until it changed its name to Lucid Motors in 2016. Together with the rebranding, the Lucid Air, a high-end EV designed to compete with models like the Tesla Model S, made its debut.
The Lucid Air set out to upset the premium EV industry with its blistering performance, aiming to become the greatest EV in the world in terms of aerodynamic efficiency. It didn’t take long for this Tesla-like car to begin receiving several accolades for its description. This includes being the fastest charging EV due to its over 900-volt ultra-fast recharging capability and having the best EV car range with an estimated range of 516 miles. Did we also mention that it achieves a quarter-mile time in the low nines and has more than 1,200 horsepower? It also accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in less than two seconds.
Lucid’s vehicle surely seems like a nightmare for Tesla for a vehicle that is connected with words like “air” and “dream.” That could be acceptable if Lucid Air’s goal had been to compete with other regional EV manufacturers for the title of greatest EV in America, but that wasn’t the case. Lucid really faced competition from some of the most well-known automakers in the world, like BMW and Hyundai.
Lucid was chosen as one of the top three finalists for the 2023 World Car Awards in three different categories: World Car Design, World Electric Vehicle, and World Luxury Automobile. The first two accolades mentioned were won by Hyundai’s Ioniq 6, which triumphed in the Global Luxury Vehicle category despite Lucid’s failure to win them.
The BMW i7 and the Genesis G90 were two further high-end vehicles that Lucid Air competed against. Comparing the three vehicles reveals why Lucid was chosen, at least in terms of their respective price-to-performance ratios.
The BMW i7’s 318-mile range, 4.5 seconds for 0 to 60 mph, and 536 horsepower overall are all lower than those of the Lucid Air. The Lucid Air Touring, a mid-tier model with more power and range in comparison, is even more expensive than the BMW i7, which has a starting price of $119,300.
The Lucid Air was up against 16 other models from international marques. Winning the prize demonstrated that an American-made EV could outperform the opposition, and in a German luxury model-dominated category, no less. Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche models dominated the Global Luxury Automobile category for the previous five years.
To be fair, Tesla did score a few victories at the 2023 Brand Image Awards presented by Kelley Blue Book. But, Lucid was also leading the way with their EV technology, taking up the 2023 Newsweek Disruptor Award.
The California-based company won the Best Luxury Car Award, topping a list that didn’t even have a single Tesla on it, according to US News & World Report’s Best of 2023 awards.
