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Comment by bdcravens | Hacker News Reader

Interesting name: "Lucid"

This implies clarity. I personally think Tesla vehicles may fit the needs of a small percentage of the population (kind of like the new Mac Pro), but are overkill for everyone else, and the excitement in EV's is changing the world for future generations. This requires a car you can sell to everyone, not just those who would drop $80k on a car (or even $40k). I believe the core of what Tesla could be, a great EV, is obfuscated by things like AutoPilot. Interestingly enough, that's where most of the issues and headlines are as well.

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Except Lucid's first car is an over top luxury car that even has an option for exec stye seats in the back for those that have a driver. Their car is a Mac Pro and Tesla is just the 5K iMac.

https://lucidmotors.com

Having taken a first look at images of the car on their site, I'll say one thing: Lucid has managed a much higher level of aesthetic refinement in their design than Tesla.

I'm a huge fan of Tesla overall, and especially their engineering. Unfortunately, despite the pedigree of their design team, I find the aesthetics wanting. In comparison, the Lucid "Air" (as their model is known), seems to rival the best German manufacturers for aesthetics. It has the crispness and ease of a design from a mature luxury car company. So hats off to that achievement, whatever their market or price point.

Tesla's sheet metal and interiors are somewhat clumsy in comparison. (It's never a good sign when your car looks best in the curve-hiding color black.)

As usual, a matter of taste. I find the design over-the-top especially with the massive shiny rims (and good luck with ride comfort). Tesla intentionally aims to be futuristic-but-not-too-much to appeal to a wider audience.

Great point about the wider appeal of the Tesla design language. Also, I'll amend my statement in regards to the Lucid's nose, which looks awkward in some angles. Cars are best viewed in person, of course. :)

This is a very small car segment, almost no product moves there. Hyundai learned it the hard way with Equus.

Disappointing.

I agree. On one hand, Autopilot hardware is holding back Tesla from making its cars significantly cheaper, while on the other, the best hardware they've put in their cars is still nowhere near powerful enough for a sufficiently safe level of "self-driving".

I do think Tesla's attention to detail in regards to crash safety and safety against battery fires is also quite important, and they should keep doing those things for all of their cars, but I don't think those alone require Tesla to make $35,000+ cars. I think they could build a good enough EV for $25,000 right now, and even a cheaper one in a few years. In fact, they should strive for that more than anything else (including AutoPilot).

I'm not saying Tesla should end-up building $8,000 EVs - what I'm saying is their threshold should be much lower than it is right now if they still want to remain relevant in the new EV world. Sure, you could argue that Porsche doesn't sell a ton of cars a year, yet everyone knows it, but it's not "relevant" to most people.

> but are overkill for everyone else

I see it as kind of like the iphone. Way too much capability for everyone. The car makes no noise and goes 0-60 under 5 seconds, and it will do the accelerator and the steering wheel when things get boring, and it avoids other cars, and has a giant screen with real maps ...

..and then everybody adapts and they add those features to their list of "normal"

I can buy a <$100 unlocked phone that does pretty much everything my $1500 iPhone XS Max can do; even the homeless have smart phones. I think we're a long way away from when the poorest in society are driving an EV, let alone one with Tesla functionality.

This requires a car you can sell to everyone, not just those who would drop $80k on a car (or even $40k).

From the article: "In 2017, Lucid Motors announced an aggressive $60,000 base price for its luxury all-electric sedan, the Lucid Air, with a range of 240 miles and some other interesting specs."

if you want an affordable EV, how about the Nissan Leaf! You can get them used now for about 7k to 8k

Yes but it looks like a death trap.

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