During this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, Lucid Motors not only publicly debuted its Air Grand Touring Performance for the first time, but raced up the famed hill … quickly. Manned by professional driver Ben Collings, the Lucid Air Grand Touring recorded a time in the Goodwood Hillclimb Timed Shootout fast enough to claim the crown as fastest production car.
The Air is the first EV to debut under the Lucid marque, which began last fall with the Dream Edition model. In 2022, deliveries of the second model – the Air Grand Touring – began. According to Lucid Motors’ Q1 report for 2022, it had delivered 360 EVs, but it is unclear how many of them were Grand Tourings.
Even among supply chain constraints that have continued to plague the American automaker’s output goals for 2022, Lucid has maintained excitement around its Air sedan. In April, Lucid announced a new Performance version of the Air Grand Touring with 1,050 horsepower and 446 miles of range.
Although deliveries are just beginning in North America, the general public had previously not seen the Air Grand Touring Performance up close. At the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed this past weekend, Lucid Motors not only displayed its Air Grand Touring Performance but showcased what it can do on the track as well.
Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance takes Goodwood crown
Although Lucid Motors hasn’t posted an official press release about its track times at Goodwood yet, the Air Grand Touring Performance cleaned up in the production car category, recording a Hillclimb time of 50.79 seconds.
In addition to posting the fastest time for all production vehicles, the Performance version of the Air placed 12th overall in the entire Hillclimb Timed Shootout, including purpose-built track cars like the all-electric McMurtry Speirling fan car, which took the overall crown this year with a record time of 39.08 seconds.
Custom electrified supercars aside, did we mention the Air Grand Touring Performance was 100% stock, including its low-rolling resistance tires? That’s right, the Lucid Air that just beat all the other production vehicles at Goodwood is the exact EV that consumers who shell out the lofty $179,000 will receive. For that MSRP, owners will also gain invaluable, publicly documented evidence of their EV’s capabilities. See for yourself:
In addition to the Performance model, Lucid Motors also showcased the standard Grand Touring and Dream Edition versions of the Air sedan at Goodwood. Lucid previously shared plans to open retail Studios and service centers throughout Europe in 2022 – a process that began with its first Studio in Munich, Germany.
First EU deliveries of the Air are expected to begin in late 2022. Blazing the trail at the famed Goodwood Festival of Speed should help the Lucid Air hype train build momentum overseas as it looks to resolve the supply chain issues stifling production here in the United States.
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