Lucid doesn’t seem like an automaker guided by superstition, because it needs to seize the nameplate that introduced Fisker’s demise. “Lucid Ocean” may turn into a brand new mannequin within the EV producer’s roster after it utilized for a Class 12 trademark with america Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO).
This trademark class is for “autos, units, machines, and equipment for locomotion by land, air, or water.” The trademark submitting explicitly notes that it might be used to designate an “electrically powered vehicle,” it provides to the checklist of different potential future Lucid mannequin names, together with “Lucid Earth.”
Lucid’s third mannequin could possibly be the Ocean
As soon as Lucid begins manufacturing of the Gravity SUV, it would shift a few of its focus to bringing out a extra inexpensive sub-$50,000 EV to market, which could possibly be referred to as the Lucid Ocean.
The applying uncovered by Electrek, filed on Could 30, remains to be pending approval. Provided that the Ocean identify has already been attributed to a different firm to designate an electrical automotive, Fisker should still have some rights to the identify, and there’s a likelihood it won’t be granted to Lucid.
After we realized in regards to the Lucid Earth trademark utility, we presumed that was going to be the identify used for the producer’s upcoming, extra inexpensive midsize mannequin. This new utility suggests Lucid hasn’t but selected the identify or has plans to launch multiple mannequin. Maybe Lucid is creating two midsize fashions, a sedan and a crossover, with Ocean representing the previous and Earth representing the latter.
Lucid hasn’t stated a lot about its extra inexpensive mannequin aside from confirming it is going to be priced at “round $48,000” and that manufacturing is scheduled to start across the finish of 2026. The producer will first put its Gravity three-row SUV into manufacturing, which is scheduled to start earlier than the tip of 2024.
The Gravity guarantees to be “the most effective SUV on the planet.” It can supply a Cadillac Escalade-level inside room and rival the Lamborghini Urus for driver enjoyment. Lucid boss Peter Rawlinson just lately highlighted these qualities of the SUV.
Lucid says it’s nonetheless not worthwhile (it misplaced a reported $2.8 billion in 2023), nevertheless it expects to interrupt even and switch a revenue by 2025. Till then, it could depend on continued monetary backing from the Saudi Public Funding Fund (PIF), which has invested a complete of $5.4 billion in Lucid and has a 60% stake within the automaker.
Fisker was searching for a dependable backer to maintain it afloat, nevertheless it didn’t discover one in time and ran out of cash. Nissan was reportedly and keen to contribute $400 million to assist Fisker pull by means of. Nonetheless, in the long run, that deal didn’t materialize after the Japanese automaker reportedly determined towards utilizing Fisker’s EV platform to underpin its electrical truck.
Some analysts say that the marketplace for costly luxurious electrical autos has seemingly turn into saturated, and it’s tougher to promote such a automobile in right now’s market situations. EV consumers are more and more concerned about getting a very good monetary deal, which is why so many automakers have slashed the costs of their automobiles. Lucid, as an example, dropped the value of its most inexpensive Air variant, the Air Pure, by over 10% in comparison with 2023, and now you can get one for $71,400.
So although Lucid needs to attract loads of consideration to its upcoming Gravity SUV within the hopes that the hype will materialize in gross sales, it’s nonetheless in the end not mainstream sufficient to be thought of a real mass-market EV. That position must be fulfilled by the upcoming midsize mannequin, which maybe must be even cheaper than $48,000 to make sure Lucid’s success and continued existence in what seems to be a slowing EV market, not less than in Europe and the US.