The Lucid Air Dream Edition has a first look

During my visit to Arizona for Lucid Motor's "Production Preview Week," I was able to get a behind-the-scenes look at the automaker's manufacturing facilities, where the Air sedan is produced. Even better, Lucid allowed me to be one of the first non-employees to test-drive the Air Dream Edition — I chose the Performance version with 1,111 horsepower. This is how it went down.

Lucid Motors has been teasing its flagship Air sedan for almost a year, providing new details about its features as it moves closer to series production.

While the Air's Dream Edition trim was supposed to arrive in spring 2021, Lucid disclosed production delays, pushing the release date back to "sometime in the second half of 2021."

Lucid Motors recently announced that the Range version of the Air Dream Edition would have an EPA-estimated range of 520 miles, setting a new record for a passenger EV. The Performance edition of Lucid's Air Dream Edition comes with 1,111 horsepower, not to be outdone.

Now, I had the opportunity to gain exclusive access to Lucid's Power train manufacturing plant, as well as its Advanced Manufacturing Plant or AMP-1, where the customer-quality Airs are now being produced, during its "Production Preview Event" in Arizona this week.

I was able to get into all four models of the upcoming Air sedan at AMP-1 to see them up close and test drive one.

Seeing the Lucid Air up close and personal, as well as taking a test drive

With its first product in the Air, Lucid wants to make an impression in the luxury EV market. The Dream Edition trim is a sight to behold in person, and it comes with a hefty price tag to match.

The Dream Edition Air is as sleek and beautiful as it is useful and efficient, given its high price tag. The quest to produce the very best within every square inch of the car makes it a site to see, according to an extremely approachable list of VPs, designers, and operations managers.

What I found even more impressive than the Air's beautiful and intuitive style was the technology that allows it to move... and move it does. There's a lot to learn about this upcoming electric vehicle, which will begin shipping to customers next month.

Exterior

Let's start outside and work our way inside the Air. The exterior of the Air Dream Edition is sleek and aerodynamic, as you can see in the photographs below. It was created with jet aircraft in mind, with a clean design that hides how large the EV is on the interior (more on that later).

The hood openings allow air to flow from the front of the moving car, through the body, and out the side mirrors. This results in a more aerodynamic ride with improved range economy.

As we approached golden hour outside of Lucid's AMP-1 facility beside the Air test-drives, the front and back lamps were stunning.

These lights, like much of the car, were developed with a minimalist approach to incorporate only what was required in a fully represent. Again, evidence of the Air's efficiency in every detail, both inside and out.

The trunk has sufficient packing room, but the front trunk storage is particularly impressive. Lucid claims that its 280-liter frunk is the largest in the world, and that its one-piece cast recently won the business a design prize.

Interior

Moving inward, Lucid's Air's clean sheet design has given its creative designers like Derek Jenkins and Joann Jung a blank canvas on which to paint top-notch luxury and comfort on to technologically superior electric power train system.

Jenkins told me at the test-drive event that starting from scratch gives the Lucid team more opportunity to define what luxury is today through the use of technology and efficiency.

The first thing you notice about the Air's interior is how big it is, especially in the back seat. What sets the Air apart from other vehicles is how much larger it feels on the inside than it seems on the outside, but that isn't by chance.

The clear glass canopy roof increases the sense of openness, while the infrared light-blocking tint offers protection and safety from the outside world.

The displays and vehicle setting interfaces have been streamlined and limited, similar to the outside, to only include what you need with a single tap.

Jenkins and his colleagues made a conscious effort to keep Air users from having to scroll and touch through many menus, according to Jenkins.

The option to allow for two different colours for front and back seating was something I found was unique and something I hadn't seen in other vehicles. The front seats are black in the photographs I shot, but the entire backseat is white.

Test drive of the Lucid Air Dream Edition

I was finally able to get behind the wheel of a Dream Edition and test-drive it, in addition to to see all four trims of the upcoming Lucid Air up close.

I was able to sneak away to Lucid's test-drive section during the AMP-1 event and was fortunate enough to find myself inside an Air Dream Edition P (Performance) with 1,111 horsepower.

John Culliton, a vehicle dynamics technical specialist at Lucid, joined me on my first trip and guided me through a lot of the development that went into the Air to bring it to the level of performance it has now, as EVs start to roll off the assembly line.

I immediately noted the silence of the interior after leaving AMP-1 and exploring the desert highways near Casa Grande. The steering and suspension were solid yet smooth, ideal for a relaxing journey interrupted by the occasional speed around a clover on-ramp or a punch past a slow semi-truck.

As I previously stated, I found the displays and settings intuitive in the sense that I didn't have to look for anything and that every button or toggle I needed to activate was within easy reach.

In this sense, I felt immediately at ease in this new vehicle, as if I had driven it before... perhaps I'm simply a quick learner. When I had the opportunity to get on the highway and truly open up the Performance Air, I was taken aback... literally.

The Air will have three drive modes, as John explains in the video below: Smooth, Swift, and Sprint. According to what I learned from other attendance at the event, not everyone was able (or trusted enough?) to test to sprint mode... but I was.

The instant torque provided acceleration that was more akin to that of a plane ride than a car one. At around 30 mph, I exited the on ramp and punched it – and that's when things got interesting.

Although the first acceleration from 30 to around 55 or 60 mph was fast, the back of my head was not yet buried in the headrest. From 60 on wards, it was like a blink of an eye, and before I could even register what was going on, I was gone... Let's just say I was traveling a little faster than the speed limit.

That extra rush of pure, unlimited speed was amazing, and I'd never seen acceleration like it before. I'm completely sucked in. After the event, I spoke with Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson, who revealed to me that what I had experienced was an intentional design.

Rather than focusing on traditional 0-60 mph track times, Rawlinson and his team were more interested in applying nasty speed to more real-world driving situations, such as when you're already driving at a low speed and see some open road, or when you're trying to quickly pass a flatbed carrying a good amount of logs or pipes (instant grounds for switching lanes, right?)

The Dream Edition P is likely to excite drivers who like to go fast, whether it's a sprint off the line or a boost while you're already cooking. I may or may not be trembling as I type this, suffering from speed withdrawals after pushing the Air as fast as my conscience (and heart) would allow.

Here's (part) of the video from my test drive with John. Unfortunately, half of my ride was corrupted and lost, thus you won't be able to see the pure ecstasy and catharsis on my face when I finally get the Air. I'm extremely disappointed, sorry, for being one of the first individuals to test-drive this beast for you.