Get ready, Tesla — the Lucid Air is here and it wants to take the crown of luxury electric car away from you

Tesla cars remain the battery electric cars most sought after by nearly everyone who wants a car of this kind. But there are more and more competitors in this demanding market, and the Californian manufacturer is facing models that want to catch the attention of potential buyers and win a significant slice of the premium electric mobility pie. One of these cars is the Lucid Air, and it sets out to prove that it is not only imposing and elegant, but also fast.

To demonstrate this, the Lucid Air was taken to the Laguna Seca circuit. It has swapped its road tyres for summer ones, Pirelli P Zero PZ4, so it could drive with more confidence and adapt to the track conditions. It is not the only change this model has undergone, as it was designed to be a showroom car for dealerships, not to shine on a circuit.

To be allowed onto the circuit, it had to have its interior replaced and was fitted with a six-point roll cage, a fire extinguishing system, high-temperature brake pads and suitable brake fluid, things the Lucid Air does not normally have in its standard configuration, and which turn it into the car you can see in the video accompanying this article.

With all this equipment, the Lucid Air completed a lap of Laguna Seca in a time of 1:41.67. To put this time in perspective, the Jaguar I-Pace recorded 1:48.18, while the Tesla Model S P100D brought it down to 1:47.62. But the test did not end there, because the Lucid Air wanted to run another lap, this time using Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tyres.

With these new tyres it went back out onto the track and managed to cut its time to 1:39.30. Gradually improving is something the Lucid Air takes pride in, because when it was unveiled in 2017 as a prototype capable of reaching a top speed of 349 km/h, a few months later it managed to reach 279 km/h. From that point on, however, from the Monterey Car Week 2017 to this test, no further data about the car has been announced. We will see whether more information is released soon so we can check everything this luxury electric saloon has to offer.

The bet made by the owner of the Lucid brand, a Saudi Arabian venture fund, is a big one. It intends to invest 100 billion dollars in the brand, which promises plenty of news in the near future. We will be watching.

https://youtu.be/SxqqJaHuyCs