After the initial sneak peek three years ago, the Silicon Valley EV startup’s crossover makes its long-awaited debut at this year’s Los Angeles auto show. North American correspondent Laura Burstein got an exclusive look at the car ahead of its official reveal and heard from design director Derek Jenkins on the power of customer feedback and the importance of establishing a consistent identity
California-based Lucid Motors has finally has lifted the cover off its Gravity SUV. Originally teased in 2020 alongside the debut of the production Air sedan, the three-row crossover went through a few transformations before emerging as one of the fastest, most efficient and most spacious EVs in the segment.
“The vehicle has evolved since the beginning of the project,” senior vice president of design and brand Derek Jenkins told us during a visit to Lucid HQ in Newark, CA. “But what we realised from the beginning is that with every utility vehicle on the market, there’s some kind of compromise that needs to be made. And we wanted to eliminate compromises.”
Staying true to the Lucid identity was key to the Gravity design. Jenkins and team decided they didn’t have to make another Rivian or Cybertruck, but instead focused on the elements that made the Air — and the brand — compelling. “We had to distill it down to what Lucid was really all about, and that’s the best performance, the best efficiency, and the most cargo space,” Jenkins says.
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