Lucid Sets Up Test Drives at Tesla Supercharger Station in Los Angeles

Tesla owners and fans criticized Lucid for setting up its own test drive shop for its Lucid Air at a Tesla Supercharger Station in Los Angeles, California. This is a new approach from the company in an attempt to market their vehicles to other consumers.

Lucid Test Drives at Tesla Supercharger Station

Automakers are now going after existing electric vehicle owners to attract them with their offerings in an interesting way. Lucid Motors decided to bring a test drive for its Lucid Air to a Tesla Superchargers Station in Hollywood. Electrek reported that this has become a trend to go after a very specific market.

The Lucid Air was displayed on the station with its doors, frunk, and trunk wide open, causing it to take up two parking spots in the process. This marketing strategy did not make Tesla owners and fans happy as it caused inconvenience to some of the owners who just opted to charge in the station.

Tesla owner and Tesla Console developer Ryan Zohory spotted the test drive at the West Hollywood Supercharger Station, featuring a Lucid Air finished in Cosmos Silver parked in a spot directly opposite the 8-stall Supercharger station. The company did not make its intentions subtle as it had decals on the side that stated "Test Drive Car."

As per Zohory, no one signed up for a test drive during his forty-five-minute stay at the station as no owners walked over to check out the electric vehicle even if employees personally approached them. He stated, "Lucid is seriously so desperate to sell cars. They sent someone to a Supercharger to try and get people to sign up for test drives but nobody was interested."

In Shanghai, GM also set up test drives for its Cadillac Lyriq outside of the Tesla Shanghai Jiqiao Supercharger Station. While the test drives in Los Angeles were unsuccessful, Tesla drivers in this station were spotted getting quick test drives in the SUV while waiting for their own vehicles to charge in the station.

A Tesla owner named @JayinShanghai stated that while the competition is great and different strategies were being implemented, this is Tesla's territory and Cadillac should be shameful for this marketing scheme.

Struggling with Sales and Production

Lucid has been struggling to both produce and sell their offerings, with only 7,180 units produced and 4,369 sold. This is just 60% of their annual production in 2022 and much farther from their original guidance of 20,000 deliveries. The company is expected to report its first-quarter financials on Monday.

This continued by this year after reporting a decline of 33% in production and more than 27% in deliveries in the first quarter, compared to the fourth quarter earnings report last year. Aside from the low production and sales figures, Lucid also experiences a decline in the number of reservations, with some customers canceling their orders before finalizing.

In comparison with its competitor, Tesla produced 439,701 electric vehicles last year with 405,278 deliveries. Drive Tesla reported that 92% of those were delivered to new owners. The automaker produced 20,614 Model S/X cars, which is more than Lucid's total offerings.