Lucid is hosting a big Lucid Investor Day event in New York this morning, and your humble The Morning Dump writer was invited to sit in on a day of discussion and announcements centered around the EV company’s path towards profitability. Will I get to see the new, midsize Lucid? That’s the hope.
I don’t think I’ve ever done a live blog version of The Morning Dump before. Doing a Live Blog in 2026 is already a questionable activity. It’s a little like taping songs off of the radio, which is a thing you technically can do although basically no one does. The Live Blog existed as the only real medium for quickly sharing news on the web for a couple of years until social media took over that role.
Social media is mostly trash now, so I’m going to give it a shot. I’m also going to do it in proper, linear order, as opposed to always putting the most recent news at the top. This is my little concession to readability.
6:55 AM: I’m On The Train And Honda Has Canceled All Its EV Plans, I Think
It’s already quite the day! I planned to make breakfast for my family and lunch my daughter before leaving, and even managed to get up at around 4:45 am in order to accomplish this. I was ahead! And then I quickly pulled up Honda’s big financial report to see if there was anything that might fit with a TMD centered around electrification. Oh boy!
Because of the way timezones work, Honda put out the news at the end of their day, which just happened to be around the time I woke up. The news is that Honda is canceling all of their new EVs planned for America. At least I hope that’s what the release said. Parsing releases before the sun comes up isn’t particularly fun.
I texted someone at Lucid with the news, and also an apology that I might look like crap since this was cutting into my shower time. His reply was:
“We’re continuing to power ahead…”
One less competitor!
7:57: Snacks Are Being Given Out, Presentation Is About To Begin
I arrived on time, somehow, and I’m now surrounded by coffee and snacks as we get ready to start. I think the big news, so far, is what was announced yesterday: CarPlay and AndroidAuto are being rolled out to Gravity customers via an OTA update.
8:05: AM Marc Winterhoff Is Here
It was confirmed to me earlier that there are two midsize vehicles coming out, once of which we’ll see today. There’s the Lucid Cosmos and then the Lucid Earth, with the Cosmos coming first (in proper Genesis order).
The pitch that I was given by our friendly Lucid PR person was that this was going to be like a group of great chefs attempting to open up a fast casual restaurant (think Danny Meyer and Steak Shack). Maybe slightly more humble ingredients, but the same sharp minds.
As you can see in the graphic above, the goal is to find margins in order to achieve profitability by “the late decade.” So not this year. Or next year. Maybe the year after. Not that Lucid is necessarily starting off bad, with the brag that it’s by far the #1 EV luxury sedan (ahead of the Tesla Model S) and, if it was put against all luxury sedans, it would be third behind the BMW 7-Series and Mercedes S-Class. The Gravity as well, at least relatively, is doing well.
As Winterhoff half-jokes, Lucid is the only company to have all of its cars on the Car And Driver 10 Best list for 2026. Sure, Lucid only has two vehicles, but those two vehicles are the best in their class at the moment.
So how is profitability achieved? The obvious ones are making the cars they currently sell cheaper to produce, and adding more affordable midsize vehicles. With the company’s Uber deal, it means more robotaxis, and Lucid wants to lead there. Finally, it sounds like Lucid is still committed to selling its vehicle software platform, similar to what Rivian did with Volkswagen.
8:31 AM: What Is This? A Lucid-Developed Robotaxi?
Ohhhhh cars under sheets. Everyone loves cars under sheets. But is that an Uber van? Just a rendering of what a concept could be, but this probably means that Lucid is looking to develop something that isn’t just a Gravity with a sensor suite.
8:39 AM: We Are Just At The Bottom Of The ‘Trough Of Disillusionment’
Erwin Raphael, SVP of Global Revenue at Lucid Motors, has the quote of the day when talking about what his projects are for the EV market going forward. Standing in front of a graphic showing the hype slowing down, he said the company is bullish, but admits “We are at the bottom of what we call the ‘Trough of Disillusionment.'” Damn, that’s good. I wish I’d have thought of that.
Quick note: Thanks to Alfa Romasochist For pointing out the hype cycle’s source.
8:51 AM: Ok, Here We Are, Talking About Midsize
Derek Jenkins, head of Design and Brand, is here to talk about the new midsize vehicles. You can hear him above on our live podcast.
9:23 AM: Here’s More On The Earth And Cosmos
Sorry for the break, I decided to break out what we know about the Lucid Cosmos and Lucid Earth, the first two vehicles on the Lucid midsize platform. The funniest moment, which you can see on our Instagram stories, is that a live demo of the new AI assistant didn’t work because the car is inside a building. It happens! They showed a video of the system working, It seems fine.
Here’s an image of the new Atlas drivetrain, which Lucid Emad Dalia says will be the most efficient and most cost effective EV system in the world (beating vehicles from China, US, and Europe).
9:39: Ah, The Drive Unit Works On Front And Rear
It’s all about “radical efficiency” for Earth and Cosmos, and what I thought was interesting was that the new Atlas drive unit can work in the front or rear, instead of having to develop different drive units.
9:45 AM: Winterhoff Is Back
I’m waiting to find out what these vehicles will cost and how much range we’ll get out of a battery (and the battery size).
9:54 AM: Break Time, Vehicle Will Start Under $50k
I got the vegan yogurt and, friends, I have regrets. I’m sitting next to Kyle from AutoGuide, and he noticed that one of the slides said the midsize will start under $50,000. So there you go.
10:16 AM: Lucid Will Sell Whole Platforms
I’m onto the next presentation, which is Kai Stepper, VP of Advanced Driving Systems, talking about robotaxis. As you can see above, Lucid sees this as a large market that could mean $300 billion of revenue and a need for 590,000 vehicles for markets outside of China.
Lucid plans to sell not only vehicles to companies like Uber, it plans to sell whole platforms to automakers that want them. Also buried in this presentation is the news that the Cosmos (at least in robotaxi trim) gets 4.5 miles per kWh, which is better even than the Gravity.
This is also better than the current popular robotaxi Jaguar iPace, because literally everything is. I didn’t realize how poor the Zeekr RT was, though some of this might be a difference in battery chemistry (Lucid wouldn’t tell me if Cosmos was NCM or LFP, but I’m guessing it’s NCM).
I can also use this to make a guess for range and size. Someone said earlier that the battery will be smaller than the 123 kWh battery currently found in the Gravity. This means that an 80 kWh battery would allow it to travel about 360 miles, which is smaller than the R2’s battery while offering more range.
L3 is apparently coming in 2028, and you’ll be able to pay $69 for Level 2++ on the Gravity and Air. I can’t wait for Jason to get upset about this.
10:44 AM: The Fireside Chat Is With Uber COO Andrew Macdonald
I will say, there is no fire here for this fireside chat.
Uber’s Andre Macdonald and Marc Winterhoff are talking about how the two companies are working together. It’s a “three-way” with Uber, Lucid, and Nuro (and the Saudi PIF looking on from the corner, I guess), and everyone seems happy at the moment.
“We want to go mass market, and to do that you need to bring the prices down,” explains Macdonald, in order achieve volume. “I’m excited about the development track of the midsize platform.”
Somewhat unsurprisingly, Uber is looking to make a deal to buy the Lucid midsize robotaxi platform.
10:49 AM: The Midsize Taxi Concept Is Called The Lunar, And It’s A Two-Seater
Much like the Telsa Cybercab, the Lunar Robotaxi concept is only a two-door. That’s weird. Why is everyone doing this? The goal for efficiency is even better than the regular midsize.
Again, this is just a concept, and my guess is that the real version will get windows and doors. Uber isn’t officially a buyer, yet, but it sounds like the goal is to make something Uber would want to buy.
11:01 AM: Now It’s The Investor Portion Of The Day
We’ve now moved onto the financials, and my row of autobloggers are all writing up the vehicles that were just launched and terms like “gross margin” have become white noise in the background. This isn’t necessarily an unreasonable view, as details are either light or have already been announced.
11:27 AM: Lunch!
I won’t be the first person to get food, but I’m sure not going to be the last.
11:31 AM: Not Lunch
It’s analyst Q&A time. The first question is a good one, which is how long will it take between Cosmos and Earth? The answer, from Winterhoff is that it’ll be “one year” from Cosmos to Earth, and that they will not be trim-levels, but two different vehicles built on the same platform.
2:04 PM: They Took My Phone So I Could See The Lucid Cosmos
A picture is worth 1,000 words, and they took my phone, so I cannot give you a picture. I have seen the new Cosmos and I am allowed to describe it. First, and this is important, it is red. It’s a little brighter than a Mazda Soul Red, but has a similar depth. It’s nice to see a Lucid in a color that isn’t gray, gray-green, green-gray, blue-gray, or gray-black.
If you like the way the Gravity looks, you’ll enjoy the way the Cosmos looks. In profile, it looks somewhat like a smaller, shorter gravity, including the rake of the DLO and the thick d-pillar that flows into the rear glass. Unusually for a car that isn’t outrageously expensive, there’s no trim around the frameless windows. The A-surface of the door blends straight into the window.
Up front, the single lightbar across is gone (designer Derek Jenkins explained that many other people have copied that), and instead there are split headlights on either side of a giant LUCID light up graphic, and another one on the rear (the light can be turned off). The rear itself is large and cavernous, with a large opening that’s almost GMC Envoy XUV sized, with an upper and lower window separated by a thin bar with an embedded CHIMSL.
Is there a frunk? It’s a Lucid, of course there’s a frunk. In the model they showed us the frunk seemed bigger-than-average, which matches the giant trunk space. Lucid is always obsessed with getting as much packaging into
The Lunar robotaxi concept that Lucid showed is similar from about the A-pillar forward. See the graphic above? Everything left of the red line gives you a rough idea of what it looks like.
2:24 PM: Ok, that’s done.
I hope this was valuable to you! I’m going to go grab a beer. Or a cookie. Or a cookie-flavored beer.
It’s great to see this info on Lucid. While I’ve never liked the look of their vehicles, their engineering seems top notch. On the the other hand, I can’t understand why The Utopian was in Austin for the unveiling of Rivian’s production R2???? I would really like your inqusitive minds delving into the R2 specs and interview their designers. Thanks!
“I’m also going to do it in proper, linear order, as opposed to always putting the most recent news at the top. This is my little concession to readability.”
Now, if only you guys did this with the damn comments component of your pages.
Four years ago, with rosy optimism, I planned to buy a BEV as my next car in 2027 or 2028.
Even if I decide to plunk down $$$ for a Lucid Cosmos (or a Rivian R2) in a couple of years because it’s a better, more efficient, more desirable ride than an ICE or hybrid, I wonder about downtime – when I’m unable to drive it for a day – or for a week plus. I’m (happily) single, live alone in a relatively remote area which makes ‘ride share’ travel expensive. I rely on my car to start every day and be dependable to the point of taking it for granted. (Sometimes weather or other stuff precludes me from riding my motorcycle, my back transportation.)
Reading about ‘teething pains’ or software glitches which brick people’s BEVs while traveling or even at home makes me so leery about buying one to replace my current ICE car, especially when a service area for a new brand is an hour away. Yes, OTA updates, but those aren’t 100% enough.
How many years must I wait before BEVs become common and good enough that they “just work” and before owning one isn’t risky for more remote areas? I can’t recall the last time an ICE car I owed didn’t move under its own power when needing to go to a nearby service shop.
I want a BEV, and am sincerely curious how other single people manage when they live an hour away from a BEV service center.
Your solution or experience?
An older well established model should have the kinks worked out by now, ie. Chevy Bolt, Tesla, Mach-E David’s i3.
But honestly the best option is to have a backup car.
Thanks. The backup car is the solution I hoped to avoid.
After reading reviews of the new Rivian R2 this past week, it seems a great fit for my needs, or rather my wants. With VW spending $5B on Rivian’s software, and this being Rivian’s second new platform, maybe many of the manufacturing and software bugs will be worked out in its first couple of years. Keeping my ICE until 2028 will give the R2 time to mature. The BMW iX3 also seems intriguing and a potential good choice. Optimism…
Or, I’ll just settle for a (used) BEV like you suggest, and wait longer for Rivian or Lucid to become more established.
Cheers
“My guess is that the real version will get windows and doors”
Aww, I was hoping for something between the Fantasy Island shuttle and maybe a Mini Moke
Why a two-seat Taxi ?
Most of the time, I take a cab, it is with a group. And I end up in the front seat. with that taximeter with the sharp corners. Those corners are scary sharp.
And why face forward with a big windshield? It makes sense if it is not a dedicated taxi platform, I guess.
I myself think that privacy curtains would be the thing to have. Why have the robots parade you through the streets like some commoner?
I dig Lucids in spite of the Saudi money behind them, though I’m not positive I’d buy one, even if it were decent and somehow sold for $50K. But maybe I would… who knows… that’ll be years from now anyway. After all, i don’t think I’m going to buy a Slate or Telo, but I have early deposits on both of those too.
Where’s a court sketch artist when you need one?