Our client bought a Lucid Air Dream Edition at a price of €218,000. However, the car lacks advertised and warranted features that are standard on any mid-size car these days. The buyer wants to return the car, but is ignored by Lucid.

EDIT Nov. 2023: Lucid and the cusomter reached a friendly settlement. Please refer to the German version for more information

Not as fun as expected: our client’s Lucid Air.

The Lucid Air has what it takes to become the electric luxury sedan of the future, at least on paper. With a range of over 800 km and a maximum of 1,126 hp, the car makes most other electric cars look old. Travelling with the Lucid Air is supposed to be not only fast, but also comfortable. Among other things, the US manufacturer advertises its advanced driver assistance system with the airy name “DreamDrive Pro” on the internet.

One of the most advanced systems on the market?

One should imagine the “ultra-intuitive” driver assistance system as an invisible co-pilot that takes the Lucid Air to a whole new level. With up to 32 sensors, including lidar, radar and ultrasound, it is one of the most advanced systems on the market. The “Highway Assist” function is intended to help, in particular, to keep the car exactly “where it belongs” on the highway through a combination of adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning. The whole thing is illustrated by a futuristic graphic that shows a Lucid Air on a highway. Thick white lines describe the lane calculated by the assistance system.

Safe, fast and smooth driving thanks to driver assist features: This is how Lucid markets “DreamDrive” (Source: https://www.lucidmotors.com/de-de/stories/grand-reveal-dreamdrive)

The FAQs also highlight the importance of DreamDrive’s safety features: “Both DreamDrive and DreamDrive Pro include a variety of safety features such as automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning and cross-traffic warnings.”

It is just a shame if the delivered vehicle does not contain these functions at all. Our client, a European entrepreneur with a collection of electric vehicles, bought a “Lucid Air Dream Edition Range” for more than € 200,000 at the beginning of the year – according to the configuration expressly with “DreamDrive Pro” driver assistance system. Shortly after the handover, however, our client was surprised to find that his car did not have “DreamDrive Pro” at all. In fact, the vehicle does not even offer lane keep assist.

Lucid plays dead

Naturally, our client complained about the deficiency to Lucid. The company confirmed the absence of the assistance system, but at the same time refused to retrofit it. They don’t think they’ll be able to deliver the “DreamDrive Pro” feature for the foreseeable future. Our client should only receive it in the indefinite future with an over-the-air update. This is particularly surprising, because “DreamDrive Pro” is even supposed to be included as standard equipment in the above-mentioned configuration.

Understandably, our client lost interest in the faulty vehicle and lost trust in Lucid. Through our law firm, he declared his withdrawal from the purchase contract in mid-August and demanded repayment of the purchase price. Unfortunately, despite setting a deadline – and contrary to a written commitment – Lucid has not responded to this to date.

We believe that customers (especially for vehicles in this price range!) can expect a better deal. It creates understandable annoyance when manufacturers initially promise the moon, but are suddenly no longer available when problems arise. Lucid seems to be displaying similar US-style business behaviour to Tesla. This leads to dissatisfied customers and harms the transition to e-mobility. We will now enforce our client’s withdrawal in court.