- Lucid Air Sapphire features three motors, carbon-ceramic brakes, aerodynamic package, new sport seats, and track-tuned suspension for a sublime driver-focused sporting experience
- Sub-two seconds 0-60 mph, sub-four seconds 0-100 mph, sub-nine seconds quarter mile, and top speed exceeding 200 mph
- Production begins in first half of 2023
Lucid Group introduced Sapphire, Lucid’s new ultra-high-performance brand, led by the new Lucid Air Sapphire – the world’s first fully electric luxury super-sports sedan.
Lucid Air Sapphire: The World’s First Luxury Electric Super Sedan
At the heart of Lucid Air Sapphire lies a three-motor powertrain – the first from Lucid – featuring a new twin motor rear-drive unit and a single motor front-drive unit.
“With three state-of-the-art electric motors – all developed and manufactured in-house by Lucid – Lucid Air Sapphire reaches an entirely new level of performance,” said Eric Bach, SVP of Product and Chief Engineer, Lucid Group. “And because a three-motor Lucid Air was always part of the development program, it retains all the strengths of Lucid Air variants already on the market – including limo-like rear legroom, a voluminous trunk and frunk, and impressive efficiency.”
These technically innovative electric motors incorporate Lucid’s microjet stator cooling and wave winding. The twin rear-drive unit also introduces new heat exchanger technology and heightened coolant flow rate. The battery system is also upgraded for higher power and more precise thermal logic.
As expected, Lucid Air Sapphire’s three-motor powertrain delivers even more horsepower than the car’s dual-motor siblings, including the 1,050-hp Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance. With over 1,200 hp, Lucid Air Sapphire is not only the most powerful electric sedan in the world, it is the most powerful sedan in the world.
With this vast power and the enhanced delivery afforded by the twin rear-drive unit, Lucid Air Sapphire will accelerate from a standstill to 60 mph in less than two seconds, from zero to 100 mph in less than four seconds, and the standing quarter mile in under 9 seconds. These figures are achievable with no extra-cost equipment upgrades or protracted preconditioning routines. Additionally, massive carbon ceramic disc brakes come as standard, endowing Air Sapphire with a stopping power to match its prodigious performance.
Final horsepower ratings will be announced later, along with instrumented demonstrations of the incredible performance capabilities of the vehicle.
Performance in Perfect Harmony: Track-Capable Handling and Braking as Standard
As with other Lucid Air variants, Lucid’s engineers followed a holistic approach to development of the first Sapphire model. In practice, this meant devoting exacting attention to every facet of performance.
“Our aim with this, our first Sapphire model, is to complement the exceptional powertrain with sharper, more responsive driving dynamics and increased body control,” said David Lickfold, Director of Chassis and Vehicle Dynamics, Lucid Group. “At the same time, it was important to retain the exceptional ride quality for which Lucid Air has come to be known.”
Lucid Air Sapphire features stiffer front and rear springs, unique damper settings, stiffer bushings, and a unique tuning for ABS, traction, stability control, and electronic power steering. Standard carbon ceramic brakes provide exceptional stopping power and contribute to Lucid Air Sapphire’s endurance in high-performance driving. This advanced chassis setup is conceived to maximize the benefits of the torque-vectoring capabilities of the three-motor powertrain, as well as the wider, more aggressive wheels and tires. The car rides on ultra-high performance staggered Aero Sapphire wheels, with specially developed Michelin PS4S tires, sized 265/35R20 at front and 295/30R21 in the rear. These unique wheels also feature removable carbon-fiber aero disk wheel covers, which further optimize the aerodynamic efficiency of the car.
In addition to delivering prodigious power to the rear of the vehicle, the twin rear-drive unit allows for torque vectoring that extends the capabilities of the car beyond that achievable with a passive all-wheel-drive system.
For example, the twin rear-drive unit can effectively pivot the rear of the vehicle, providing torque to the rear wheels in opposite directions to promote either turn-in or straight-line stability – similar to a brake-based setup and a rear-wheel steering system, but faster, quieter, and more seamless. In tight corners, the system is able to apply regenerative braking on the inside wheel while powering the outside, greatly enhancing vehicle turn-in rotation and with much quicker response times than rear-wheel steering systems.
The benefits for drivers are wide-reaching, with improvements to turn-in, cornering balance across all speeds, corner exit, and high-speed stability and disturbance rejection. The driving experience differs across drive modes to give multiple characters in conjunction with steering, suspension, powertrain, and brake settings.
A New Shade of Speed: Sapphire Design, Inside and Out
Lucid Air Sapphire is designed to be as functional as it is beautiful.
Special attention has been given to refining the aerodynamic character of the body for Lucid Air Sapphire. The outcome of this effort is a balance between added downforce, which enhances vehicle stability at higher speeds, and reducing drag, which affects both performance and efficiency.
The launch of the Sapphire brand from Lucid also marks the introduction of a new Sapphire Blue exterior paint, a radiant color that will be exclusive to Sapphire vehicles. Initially, all Lucid Air Sapphires will be finished exclusively in the new Sapphire Blue color to mark the brand introduction.
Lucid Air Sapphire is augmented with the recently announced Stealth Look as standard, bringing a more sinister, sporting character to the exterior of the vehicle.
The cabin of Lucid Air Sapphire extends the purposeful beauty of the exterior with a new interior theme called Sapphire Mojave. This includes new highly bolstered 18-way power sport seats, upholstered in black leather trimmed with black Alcantara and Sapphire Blue contrast stitching. Though designed for spirited driving, the seats still provide decadent comfort, with heating, cooling and massage functionality. The headrest showcases a debossed Lucid bear logomark, one of the icons of the Lucid brand identity reflecting the California origins of the brand. Dash and doors are decorated with Mojave darkwood veneers, while the steering wheel and upper roof structure for the standard Glass Canopy roof are trimmed in black Alcantara.
Lucid Air Sapphire also features a unique Sapphire-themed on-screen display, with specially configured drive modes and performance settings.
The Future is Faster
Lucid Air Sapphire makes its public debut at the Quail Lodge during Monterey Car Week. Lucid Air Sapphire will be offered as a limited-production model, with deliveries planned in the US and Canada next year. The price is $249,000 USD and $325,000 CAD1. Reservations go live Tuesday, August 23, 2022 at 9 AM Pacific time.