Is that a minivan? Is that a carriage? Is it an SUV?
The answers to these questions are, in order, no, almost so, and yes. The Gravity clarity is the startup automaker’s upcoming crossover SUV, but in many ways it redefines the genre in terms of packaging, design, and driving style.
Here’s what I learned after a short time behind the wheel of the first alpha build prototype before it went into the grinder.
Lucid Gravity prototype
Lucid’s electric SUV will be a chameleon
It all depends on the angle Gravity clarity Viewed. The camouflage-covered prototypes I saw in various stages of development made it more difficult to decipher its proportions. It’s amazing what a bunch of tape will do to the appearance of a car.
From the side, the Gravity looks like a squashed SUV or a bulky wagon. The long greenhouse, forward cabin proportions and high beltline add to the oversized wagon feel in a nice way. This won’t be another car masquerading as an SUV.
From the rear, from the right angle, there’s a serious resemblance to the Chrysler Pacifica. And I mean that as a compliment to both Gravity and Pacifica. Both are pretty sharp vehicles for their respective segments and have some things in common. Gravity may be the first crossover SUV in history to have a third row of seats that can be retracted into the trunk.
Lucid Gravity prototype
The SUV-like viewing angle is especially when looking directly at the Gravity. Its visual mass and height are most apparent, especially when parked next to a low, sleek Air. The height of the front of the car is emphasized by vertical LED light tubes at both corners.
I also have a strong feeling that, as with Air, Gravity will be a medium where color is very important in terms of its appearance as well as its perceived presence.
Lucid Gravity prototype
Gravity moves through the air
The folks at Lucid aren’t ready to fully discuss the different packaging with different trims and options, but the Gravity I drove used a three-chamber air suspension. Launch vehicles will likely have this system, which is likely to be the most expensive and advanced. Cheaper models will use a single-chamber design, which I have not experienced.
When I opened the door to the Gravity build alpha prototype, which is a suspension and platform, the car didn’t work. One of my accompanying engineers asked me to close the door and let him restart the car. I opened the door a second time and Lucid came to life. Something like that.
Lucid Gravity prototype
The prototype digital gauge cluster immediately lit up with several warning lights. There are fixed digital buttons on the left side similar to Car, along with basic controls that display air conditioning temperature and steering wheel adjustments. The dashboard gets some upholstery so it doesn’t look gaunt; gauge cluster missing rear plate; and the center touch screen no longer works. And the hacked-together interior has the requisite (for any development vehicle) red stop button—in case we need to quickly shut things down.
When I sat in the driver’s seat, a Lucid spokesperson noted that this wasn’t even a Gravity seat. These were seats pulled from an Air because the prototype Gravity seats were needed on a newer mule being road tested.
This resulted in an incorrect production seating position, and it meant that my view of the 34.0-inch curved OLED digital gauge cluster was obstructed by the circular steering wheel intended to aid the situation. This. The steering wheel itself is a prototype, and the touchpad on either side is empty. This feels different from anything I’ve ridden before. The circular shape is flatter than what’s used on the Chevrolet Corvette, while the diameter feels perfect and proportionate to the car. It’s a better concept than a yoke if a car without a ride-by-wire system only has 180-degree steering inputs.
Lucid Gravity prototype
Suspension adjustments and powertrain output are controlled by an engineer via a computer hooked directly into the car’s systems via an ethernet cable from the rear seat. As I guided the Gravity prototype out of Lucid’s parking lot, I asked what mode the powertrain and three-chamber air suspension were in. “It’s equivalent to Smooth in the Air,” the engineer replied—referring to the softest setting. In the Gravity, this would deliver around 500 horsepower, which is 60-70% of the powertrain’s output.
I punched it with the accelerator on the floor and Gravity. Dual motor drive system brought us back to our seats as the oversized carriage took off. I quickly gave up because this was a public road. By my own estimate, 60 mph is achieved in less than 4.0 seconds. It’s fast even on the slowest setting.
As I moved onto the faster-moving four-lane suburban road, I increased my speed a bit. Admittedly there is a hump in the road, perhaps from a little overspeeding, which causes the steering to become light and numb as the suspension unloads and the mass increases. The landing was smooth and controlled.
Lucid Gravity prototype
Effects of Air Sapphire on the ride and handling of Gravity
The engineer sitting in the right front seat told me that the team wanted to expand the car’s handling and body control capabilities from ulta plush and soft—softer than the Air sedan—to ultra-sporty with Good body control is similar to that of the Air sedan. Sapphire Air. “Scalability” is the name of the game, I was told.
The technical team asked me to drive onto a side road with a sharp left-hander leading into a straight stretch and then turn right. All of this leads to a long, straight road that ends in a parking lot. The team said I could push the Gravity through all of this to see the current level of suspension tuning and the practicality of the circular steering wheel.
My first crack at this makeshift road was with the suspension and powertrain tuned up to 11, aka Sprint mode on the Air. Earlier in the drive, I was warned that the car was running out of juice so I would never get a full pass. Total capacity will reach over 800 horsepower in Sprint mode.
The suspension kept the Gravity surprisingly upright with little body roll despite the speeds we were going around at. It somehow feels like an overgrown Porsche cayenne, or something one might find rolling out of the Mercedes-Benz AMG building. The inside wheels dug into the road and I could feel the thrust and pull shifting as Gravity rushed around the first corner. The second corner was wider and it was clear that the Gravity was capable of much more than this road could show me.
While all Gravity cars will initially be dual-motor – one at each axle providing all-wheel drive – it is expected that there will be a three-motor model with Sapphire badging at some point. there. The Lucid team knew nothing about the subject, but told me that lessons from the Sapphire’s torque vectoring are being applied to the Gravity through the electronic stability control and braking systems along with the engine. rear muscle.
Lucid Gravity prototype
The prototype rolls on the Gravity’s staggered 21-inch front and 22-inch rear and 22-inch center-staggered wheels, wrapped in Michelin all-season tires, but it lacks the rear-wheel steering that production cars will have with the three-chamber air suspension. That means the production car will have sharper turning angles than what I experienced.
The engineer sitting in the back seat of the Gravity pressed a few keys on the computer as the prototype approached the start of this imaginary journey. “Okay, we’ll use something similar to the basic Smooth mode again,” he said. No one seemed to care whether I punched it or not, so I did. When the Michelins won the Gravity’s weight had changed significantly from the first as the softer suspension parameters allowed for a lot more lean and I had no choice but to keep the speed lower when the vehicle body rolls. While still under control, Gravity suddenly made me more aware of its weight.
Lucid Gravity prototype
The Lucid Gravity feels like an Air wagon
Even though the seating position isn’t exact, I still got a solid sense of what it would feel like to be in the Gravity on the road. The view from the back of the front seat through the rear window reminded me of driving a horse-drawn carriage. That’s mainly due to the shape of the rear window, compressed by the flattened roofline. Note that the prototype does not have a third row of seats, and the second row is not a production version.
Lucid Gravity prototype
The forward visibility, the position of the front pillars, the vast windshield on top of the glass roof and the overall feel from the driver’s seat reminded me of an Air that has been supersized. If a futuristic sports car with extreme highs existed, this could be it.
Leaving my brief time in the Gravity’s first suspension and chassis prototype, one thing became clear: There’s no other electric vehicle on the market that drives or looks like this. It looks set to deliver family comfort on the daily commute and sporty driving dynamics on the long drive home in a way that no other seven-seat electric vehicle has delivered.
