Connect with us

News

Lucid cuts prices by up to $8000 to attempt to surge demand

Credit: Lucid

Published

on

Lucid has cut prices on the Air electric vehicle lineup by as much as $8,000 in an attempt to surge demand.

The Lucid Air Pure Rear-Wheel-Drive is now priced at $69,900. The most affordable and accessible trim of the Air features a sleek interior and exterior design and a driving range of up to 410 miles. It was previously priced at $77,400.

The Lucid Air Touring is now priced at $77,900 and features an All-Wheel-Drive powertrain that produces 620 horsepower. It was previously $85,900.

The Grand Touring is now $109,900, and features just a $1,000 discount. This is one of the premiere trims of the Lucid Air, featuring 819 horsepower, an All-Wheel-Drive powertrain, and an astounding 516 miles of range.

Lucid said it wanted to expand the ownership experience and the price cuts were intended to directly address the commonly-mentioned barriers against purchasing or leasing an EV: price and ease of ownership.

“We are optimistic about the future of EVs and believe strongly that increased adoption is a necessary path towards reducing the impact of climate change,” CEO Peter Rawlinson said. “We have worked tirelessly to enable the Lucid Air lineup to deliver unsurpassed range and performance from less energy, and so I’m delighted that today we are able to share this benefit with our customers.”

2023 Lucid Air Deliveries

Lucid announced that it had delivered 1,734 vehicles in the fourth quarter. This brought its 2023 totals to 8,428 produced and 6,001 delivered.

Its Q4 performance was a 10 percent drop from the same quarter a year prior.

Lucid struggles in Q4 and decreases deliveries from a year earlier

It also dropped production output goals in November, stating that its projected numbers for manufacturing goals did not “prudently align” with its capabilities.

Advertisement
-

New Strategies

In December, Lucid decided to upgrade and update its Air lineup with more customization availability to attempt to push more vehicles out of the door.

Now, it is attempting to cut prices for more demand triggers, but the question is, will it work?

Lucid updates and upgrades Air lineup for 2024

Unfortunately, Lucid is losing a lot of money per unit. In Q3 2023, it was losing $430,000 for every vehicle it produced.

Now that prices are lower and volume is still low, it seems that number will increase.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla Theater might be getting plenty more streaming platforms

Published

on

Credit: YouTube/Tesla Theater

The in-car Tesla Theater is among the most unique features available within the cars. When charging, parked, camping, or just hanging out, vehicle occupants can access a variety of streaming platforms on the large center screen, helping keep them entertained during downtime.

However, the Theater might be getting plenty more streaming platforms, something that owners have requested for some time.

Tesla owners recently discovered that visiting Apple TV in the vehicle browser can launch a fullscreen interface that looks and behaves like a dedicated application rather than an ordinary webpage:

The experience drops the usual address bar and browser chrome, presenting catalogs, continue watching rows, and playback controls in the same window Tesla Theater already uses for its listed services. Independent testers soon found similar treatment for HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock, Disney+, and Prime Video when those sites are opened from the car browser.

This shift is a plausible early signal that Tesla is widening Theater support without a formal software note. Theater has long been a set of web views rather than native applications, so recognizing extra domains and stripping the browser frame is a small server-side change that can expand the catalog quickly.

Owners still lack permanent Theater icons for the newly recognized services, and video remains limited to Park, yet the smoother launch is a meaningful step toward a broader lounge while charging.

Tesla Theater arrived with software version 10 in September 2019. The first video services were Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu, available only while parked and originally tied to WiFi. Spotify arrived in the same era as music rather than Theater video. Disney+ joined officially in July 2021 with the 2021.24 update, giving owners another major catalog on the center screen. Twitch and TikTok later appeared among the default Theater tiles, and Tesla Tutorials remained a persistent educational tile.

Advertisement
-

Not every addition stayed put. In December 2023, a Holiday software build removed the Disney+ tile for many United States owners after a public dispute involving advertising on X. Hulu stayed visible even though Disney owned it. Visiting disneyplus.com in the browser often restored the tile, which suggested the removal was a recognition list change rather than a complete block. Owners have also reported occasional blank Theater grids after updates, usually fixed by language toggles, resets, or later firmware.

Tesla axes Disney+ from vehicles with Musk-Iger rivalry, but there’s a workaround

Code archives from 2024 listed many unused source names, including Apple TV and Prime Video, that never became official icons, which now looks like groundwork for the current fullscreen browser behavior.

Now that this hint toward an expanded Theater experience has been recognized, Tesla could follow through with these additional shortcuts as a sign that more streaming platforms are available in Teslas than ever before.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla Semi’s biggest adoptee gives an update on production timeline

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla recently received its largest order for the all-electric Semi from Einride, a Swedish transport service, for 500 units, a groundbreaking invoice to receive before the first deliveries begin.

Even more remarkable, Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said in a recent interview that he expects his company to take delivery of all 500 — the entire order — before the end of 2027. He even expects to have 75 Tesla Semi units in the Einride fleet before the end of this year.

Charli said the Tesla partnership was part of a broader push, along with its earlier partnership with Amazon. Einride is assisting Amazon with the use of its Saga AI platform, which helps eliminate questions about budgeting and forecasting for logistics companies.

The Semi, as well as Tesla’s production and subsequent delivery of the units to Einride, will help the company “to have a good supply of vehicles that we can deploy on the [Saga AI] platform,” Charli said. “Tesla is also a relationship we’ve had for a while, and as the Tesla Semi deliveries are firming up, we decided to do a larger commitment to that and deploy that on our platform.”

In its initial announcement, Einride said it anticipated taking delivery of the trucks over the next two years, but now it appears the company is expecting all 500 units within the next 16 months.

Tesla Semi gets its largest order yet

Built at a dedicated factory in Sparks, Nevada, the Tesla Semi has been perhaps the biggest and most intensive testing process the company has ever had for a single vehicle model. For the past several years, Tesla has been working with many companies, most notably Frito-Lay and PepsiCo, to gain knowledge on the performance on regional routes.

Advertisement
-

Tesla plans to launch the Semi officially on September 24, five months after production started ramping.

Additionally, drivers have said they are happy about the Semi’s performance and that its numerous safety and productivity features have made their jobs and routes much easier.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla Cybercab uses a unique strategy for picking up the right rider

Published

on

Credit: ARTSIMAGE | X

Tesla Cybercab is using a unique strategy for picking up the correct rider, which is a crucial part of ride-hailing to ensure people end up in the right place and are charged the correct price.

Cybercab will utilize an RGB strip in its front light bar that will illuminate in a variety of different colors to mark itself.

This identifying mark will also appear in the Robotaxi app, giving riders in the same location a notable distinction in an effort to avoid any confusion regarding who should get in each vehicle.

Other ride-hailing services use similar strategies: Lyft and Uber rides are recognizable through driver identity, vehicle type and color, as well as license plate. Waymo will display the rider’s initials on top of the vehicle, letting them know that the specific vehicle for them has arrived.

Tesla’s strategy is unique and interesting, but there are some flaws. Cybercab’s main purpose is aimed toward being an autonomous ride for all, including those who have disabilities like being blind or even color blind.

Tesla will likely have something in the pipeline for those who cannot see colors or have limited vision. There will definitely be multiple ways to identify which vehicle is the one that “you” specifically ordered.

Cybercab is set to start giving public rides next Thursday, September 3, in Austin, as it announced a dedicated event last week and invited many members of the Tesla community.

Advertisement
-

Tesla will launch Cybercab on September 3

Additionally, members of the public will be invited as well. Tesla has been offering employee rides in Cybercab for nearly two months.

Continue Reading