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The Lucid Air Dream Edition R’s first in-depth review reveals the car is a stunner
Lucid frontman Peter Rawlinson has spent plenty of years in the electric vehicle realm, so he definitely has an idea of what goes into creating a fast, luxurious, and effective electric car. Prior to his time at Lucid, Rawlinson was one of the key members of Tesla’s Model S development team back in the early 2010s, before leaving the company to pursue his own interests, eventually landing at Lucid Motors. As the electric vehicle sector continues to develop quite nicely in the grand scheme of things, with both exclusively electric companies and legacy automakers all contributing to the sustainable energy transition, Lucid is set to deliver its first vehicle, the Air Dream Edition sedan, later this year, and Motortrend got an in-depth and exclusive look at the car that could quite possibly be the king of the hill when it enters the market.
Design
One of the sharpest vehicles in the automotive sector, the Air Dream Edition was outfitted in Eureka Gold for this breakdown by Motortrend. Reminiscent of the Citroën DS redesigned for Blade Runner, the car is simple yet futuristic in its design. It’s a long sedan, and in photographs almost reminds me of an older Ford Taurus in its “boaty” nature. However, it is much more pleasing to the eye, in my opinion. (The Ford Taurus was my second car. I drove it to class in college, and Lord, I hated that thing.)
Credit: MotorTrend
Sleek and luxurious, the reviewers were more particular to this interior than that of the Tesla Model S, stating that “every Tesla since day one has seemingly shipped without a finished interior, Lucid not only crafted a perfectly wonderful luxury-car cabin, but it also smartly avoided the screens über alles aesthetic that plagues cars like the Mercedes EQS.” Truth is, the Air interior is still relatively simplistic, and while it does have a few more bells and whistles than the Tesla Model S, it is not all that different other than an extended instrument cluster, a repositioned center screen, and more material options.
Credit: MotorTrend
Performance
The Air Dream does not drive like a Lotus, which Rawlinson wanted when he designed the car: the look of a Mercedes with the ride of a Lotus. In fact, Jonny Lieberman, who wrote MotorTrend’s review, said it’s more like a Nissan GT-R. It has great handling, and with 933 horsepower, it’s extremely quick. Couple these performance tidbits based on Lieberman’s experience with the already stunning design and comfortable interior, and you have a car that is sure to appeal to many.
Carving turns in the Air was one of the highlights of the test drive. “I assumed the Air Dream Edition R would be decent enough to drive around big sweepers, but about 10 miles into our run up Angeles Crest Highway, I discovered the car enjoyed being manhandled through tight corners,” Lieberman wrote. The harder he drove the car, the better it performed, making it an ideal choice for a scenic joyride through winding and curvy rods, especially with the all-wheel-drive system to help navigate through those corners.
Not only is the car fun to drive, but it’s fast too, even if it’s over 5,000 pounds. Impressive with this pre-production Air model that was available for the test drive, the car will only improve as Lucid begins cranking out production models of the vehicle soon. This is where Lieberman expects Lucid to improve on an already great car. The front end seemed to be a little too free for his liking, while the back tires provided sufficient grip and maneuverability through tight corners. According to Lucid’s Director of Chassis and Vehicle Dynamics David Lickfold, the front spring rate will be reduced by 10% before production begins. The anti-roll bar will be stiffened for more support and stability, and active dampers will get an adjustment, too, providing an even smoother ride than already given.
Credit: Motortrend
Three Drive Modes
The Air will come with three available drive modes, as Lickfold was curious about the condition of the roads that the Air was being tested on by MotorTrend. He suggested Lieberman leave it in Swift Mode, the second option, between Smooth and Sprint.
- Smooth Mode: Motors limited to 670 horsepower, softens dampers and brake pedal feel, the steering wheel is “free” feeling
- Swift Mode: Motors limited to 670 horsepower, much firmer feel than smooth mode, suitable for quicker driving on winding roads, but still holding back some performance
- Sprint Mode: Motors can reach full 933 horsepower potential, dampers are very hard, extremely sporty driving feel with “Tesla Plaid-like battery conditioning” for battery performance
Swift Mode brings out about 75% of the total power output, according to Emad Dlala, Lucid’s Senior Director of Efficiency and Energy Technology.
Credit: MotorTrend
Efficiency, Range, Battery Pack
The Air Dream Edition R is supposed to have 500 miles of range at a minimum, and the EPA will either confirm or deny this when it certifies the car in the coming months. MotorTrend decided to test the range on its own terms with a drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco, close to 350 miles. Not only did this drive provide some insight on how the range of the vehicle would be, but it would also give the reviewers an opportunity to get a look at what the vehicle would be like in its most frequent way of travel: abiding by speed limits and traffic rules during highways, while having to navigate through traffic and provide the driver and passengers with safety, but also entertainment and comfortability through the lengthy quest up the California coast.
It’s a smooth ride, there was wind noise, a common complaint among EVs due to their lack of an engine to drown out road sounds, but tire noise was minimal, Lieberman said. The car sat on Pirelli P Zeros, specifically designed for Lucid. After 205 miles of driving, the range of the vehicle had gone from 503 miles to 286, so there was slightly more energy usage through the 205 miles of driving as 217 miles had been subtracted from the range since the start of the trip. The additional range usage was due to air conditioning, so Lieberman adjusted the temperature from 69 to 71 to see if there was any impact.
The team arrived in San Francisco with 69 miles of range remaining, not needing to charge up at any point during the drive.
Credit: Motortrend
While Lucid still remains very vague in terms of when the Air Dream Edition will begin deliveries, the company still expects them to occur this year. With its unique design, different drive modes, impressive range, fast performance, and sporty but luxury interior, the car is certainly one of the most-anticipated EVs in the last several years. The car, along with Tesla’s vehicles, continues to chip away at the idea that range anxiety is an issue and EVs are not fast and fun. The Air is its own vehicle, and it’s important to not count it out before it hits the road, especially as Lieberman, who has reviewed hundreds of vehicles, was quite impressed by the Air Dream Edition.
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Tesla is coming to Estonia and Latvia in latest European expansion: report
Tesla seems to be accelerating its regional expansion following its recent launch in Lithuania.
Recent reports have indicated that Tesla has taken a step toward entering the Baltic states by registering new subsidiaries in Latvia and Estonia.
Filings suggest that Tesla is accelerating its regional expansion following its recent launch in Lithuania, with service centers likely coming before full sales operations.
Official entities in Latvia and Estonia
Tesla has established two new legal entities, Tesla Latvia SIA and Tesla Estonia OÜ, both owned by Tesla International B.V., as noted in an EV Wire report. Corporate records show the Estonian entity was formed on December 16, 2025, while the Latvian subsidiary was registered earlier, on November 7.
Both entities list senior Tesla executives on their boards, including regional and finance leadership responsible for new market expansion across Europe. Importantly, the entities are registered under “repair and maintenance of motor vehicles,” rather than strictly vehicle sales. This suggests that Tesla service centers will likely be launched in both countries.
The move mirrors Tesla’s recent Baltic rollout strategy. When Tesla entered Lithuania, it first established a local entity, followed by a pop-up store within weeks and a permanent service center a few months later. It would then not be surprising if Tesla follows a similar strategy in Estonia and Latvia, and service and retail operations arrive in the first half of 2026.
Tesla’s European push
Tesla saw a drop in sales in Europe in 2025, though the company is currently attempting to push more sales in the region by introducing its most affordable vehicles yet, the Model 3 Standard and the Model Y Standard. Both vehicles effectively lower the price of entry into the Tesla ecosystem, which may make them attractive to consumers.
Tesla is also hard at work in its efforts to get FSD approved for the region. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Tesla rolled out an FSD ride-along program in several European countries, allowing consumers to experience the capabilities of FSD firsthand. In early December, reports emerged indicating that the FSD ride-along program would be extended in several European territories until the end of March 2026.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X will start using a Tesla-like software update strategy
The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.
Elon Musk’s social media platform X will adopt a Tesla-esque approach to software updates for its algorithm.
The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.
X’s updates to its updates
As per Musk in a post on X, the social media company will be making a new algorithm to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users. These updates would then be repeated every four weeks.
“We will make the new 𝕏 algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days. This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” Musk wrote in his post.
The initiative somewhat mirrors Tesla’s over-the-air update model, where vehicle software is regularly refined and pushed to users with detailed release notes. This should allow users to better understand the details of X’s every update and foster a healthy feedback loop for the social media platform.
xAI and X
X, formerly Twitter, has been acquired by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI last year. Since then, xAI has seen a rapid rise in valuation. Following the company’s the company’s upsized $20 billion Series E funding round, estimates now suggest that xAI is worth tens about $230 to $235 billion. That’s several times larger than Tesla when Elon Musk received his controversial 2018 CEO Performance Award.
As per xAI, the Series E funding round attracted a diverse group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group, among others. Strategic partners NVIDIA and Cisco Investments also continued support for building the world’s largest GPU clusters.
News
Tesla FSD Supervised wins MotorTrend’s Best Driver Assistance Award
The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has been named the best driver-assistance technology on the market, earning top honors at the 2026 MotorTrend Best Tech Awards.
The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system. And it wasn’t even close.
MotorTrend reverses course
MotorTrend awarded Tesla FSD (Supervised) its 2026 Best Tech Driver Assistance title after extensive testing of the latest v14 software. The publication acknowledged that it had previously criticized earlier versions of FSD for erratic behavior and near-miss incidents, ultimately favoring rivals such as GM’s Super Cruise in earlier evaluations.
According to MotorTrend, the newest iteration of FSD resolved many of those shortcomings. Testers said v14 showed far smoother behavior in complex urban scenarios, including unprotected left turns, traffic circles, emergency vehicles, and dense city streets. While the system still requires constant driver supervision, judges concluded that no other advanced driver-assistance system currently matches its breadth of capability.
Unlike rival systems that rely on combinations of cameras, radar, lidar, and mapped highways, Tesla’s FSD operates using a camera-only approach and is capable of driving on city streets, rural roads, and freeways. MotorTrend stated that pure utility, the ability to handle nearly all road types, ultimately separated FSD from competitors like Ford BlueCruise, GM Super Cruise, and BMW’s Highway Assistant.
High cost and high capability
MotorTrend also addressed FSD’s pricing, which remains significantly higher than rival systems. Tesla currently charges $8,000 for a one-time purchase or $99 per month for a subscription, compared with far lower upfront and subscription costs from other automakers. The publication noted that the premium is justified given FSD’s unmatched scope and continuous software evolution.
Safety remained a central focus of the evaluation. While testers reported collision-free operation over thousands of miles, they noted ongoing concerns around FSD’s configurable driving modes, including options that allow aggressive driving and speeds beyond posted limits. MotorTrend emphasized that, like all Level 2 systems, FSD still depends on a fully attentive human driver at all times.
Despite those caveats, the publication concluded that Tesla’s rapid software progress fundamentally reshaped the competitive landscape. For drivers seeking the most capable hands-on driver-assistance system available today, MotorTrend concluded Tesla FSD (Supervised) now stands alone at the top.
Tesla is coming to Estonia and Latvia in latest European expansion: report
Elon Musk’s X will start using a Tesla-like software update strategy
