Why Lucid Offers Pure, Gravity and Creature Comfort (Dog Mode) - Designer Derek Jenkins

Luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid recently introduced the Air Pure edition and new details about its electric SUV, Gravity. After the reveal, Auto Futures talked about Lucid design and plans with Derek Jenkins, Vice President of Design at the Beverly Hills studio. Jenkins revealed some never-before details about the Lucid UX and Gravity SUV.

The Lucid Air - The Beast

Jenkins described the how the Lucid Air sedan drives and how the different models feel.

"People underestimate our cars. I think they know that our cars are fast, luxurious and with a great range. Beyond that, I feel like the Lucid Air is an elegant car that is great for cruising, commuting and long-distance travel. When you put it in Sprint mode-it is like a beast and full-on. That catches people off guard and even myself when I use the car daily. I am still shocked at how much of a sports car it is," said Jenkins.

He says Lucid takes the idea of efficiency and getting as far as possible and every kilowatt of power very seriously.

"My role is keeping the car as slippery as possible. With a 0.197 drag coefficient, Lucid offers the most efficient vehicle for sale, on the road today," he said.

He describes Pure as a celebration of efficiency, aerodynamics, a feeling of the future and technology. The design is clean while not overly trendy and fussy with lines and detail. The cars are quite pure---almost aircraft-like in their design execution

Jenkins has driven all the different Lucid models.

"I'm driving a Grand Touring Performance right now. I've driven the Lucid Touring, Lucid Pure, and Dream editions. The biggest thing you notice, as you go up to the bigger battery packs, the car does feel a little bit heavier, with four extra modules in the middle." 

Touring and Pure both are 18 battery-module cars. These cars feel a little bit lighter. There is a reduction in power and a mild reduction in range. They have a nice lightness and agility to them. They are still better than anything else in the class and faster than most sports cars, Jenkins explained.

California Home to Lucid Inspiration 

Many aspects of Lucid cars are inspired by the beauty and lifestyles in California. Jenkins grew up in car culture in Southern California in Orange County.

"I thought that I wanted to maybe be an engineer, but I found out about car design at a young age. Fortunately, It went that route and have been super lucky," said Jenkins.

He grew up around old Volkswagens, air-cooled cars and dune buggies. His father was into cars and a collector and tinkerer of old vans and Volkswagens.

"I was making my own surfboards and restoring cars and building motorcycles." 

The first car he restored was a 1974 Volkswagen Thing when he was 15 years old. He currently owns a Meyers Manx fibreglass-body replica dune buggy.

Auto Futures then asked, Will your latest creation, the Lucid Gravity SUV hold a surfboard?

"Gravity not only will fit a surfboard - it will fit a rather large surfboard," said Jenkins.

Gravity will have a rack system for stowing gear and other objects, he added.

Before this interview at the reveal event, Jenkins introduced the Lucid SUV, Gravity, and stated reservations will open in 2023 with deliveries in 2024.

He says Gravity will have the attributes of Lucid Air. It will have a relatively sleek long cabin with a more upright nose to the vehicle that gives it a robust and noble SUV character. Gravity will have a lot of utility in the back hatch. It is not a fastback. It is a proper SUV.

"Gravity is designed to look strong, tough and very sporty. It is going to be very much a high-performance SUV," said Jenkins.

Gravity will have seating for five, six, or seven adults in two- and three-row seating options.

He says the front seats of Gravity are captain's chairs with a business class experience.

"The seats will fold flat, so you could, in theory, have a nice sleep." 

There are several colours in the pipeline which will debut on Gravity. They may make their way onto Lucid Air products. Jenkins said he could not reveal the colours.

He added Lucid Gravity SUV will have the same user experience (UX) interface as the Lucid Air.

New User Experiences - Even for Dogs

The Lucid Air features a curved 34" cockpit glass across the front of the vehicle and a large tablet in the centre console. Most operations however, are executed with physical controls.

"The number one thing I have gotten a ton of personal feedback on is the analogue interfaces we kept in the car. When we started out, it was tempting to go crazy with screens everywhere and get rid of all the buttons and switches. We made the conscious decision to put in volume controls, fan, temperature and tactile features on the steering wheel and doors. Even the air vents are manually adjusted," said Jenkins.

"I can not tell you how many people will come and say I just love the volume knob." 

Lucid updated the UX with hundreds of improvements, software enhancements and new features throughout the vehicle. A recent update placed controls closer to the steering wheel for easier access.

More over-the-air updates are coming in the future.

What is Lucid planning for future updates?

"We have something coming, called Creature Comfort. Similar to pet mode, you can set the climate at your desired level and monitor it. You can check that through your app on your phone," said Jenkins, "Once we roll that out, it will go across all of our products."