Lucid has teased its third model which will take the shape of a crossover to steal market share from the Tesla Model Y. This is a tall order because the Model Y is an extremely popular car not just in the United States but also globally. During Tesla’s Q4 2023 earnings call, the company revealed over 1.2 million units of the Model Y were delivered worldwide to become the world’s best-selling vehicle, a feat that was also acknowledged by JATO Dynamics data.
Despite this, Lucid is confident its upcoming midsize EV has what it takes to draw customers from the Model Y, which has been around since 2019 and is due for its ‘Juniper’ update. According to Lucid, the new crossover will be built on a midsize platform and feature a new drive unit referred to as Atlas.
The company didn’t dive into specifics but claimed the Atlas drive unit is “miniaturised, allowing greater interior cabin space and is more efficient, enabling longer range using less energy and therefore less batteries than competitors.” It added that a proprietary software stack will also be implemented to provide powertrain controls such as torque vectoring, traction control and battery management.
While there isn’t much info relating to the upcoming crossover’s powertrain, Lucid did confirm production of the model will start in late 2026. More importantly, the starting price touted is under USD50,000 (about RM216k), which is competitive against the Model Y if the US’ federal tax credit and Tesla’s own “gas savings” aren’t factored in.
The post Lucid teases its Tesla Model Y competitor with Atlas drive unit – production start in late 2026; from USD50k appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.
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