MotorTrend names Arizona-based ‘Lucid Air’ its ‘Car of the Year’

MotorTrend’s 2022 “car of the year” is a sedan made right here in Arizona. It’s the Lucid Air, manufactured by Lucid Motors in Casa Grande. Mike Boike, Senior Director of Manufacturing at Lucid Motors, told us more about this award-winning car.

“We are extremely excited to win that MotorTrend ‘car of the year’ award, it’s not easily done, the competition is fierce for that and 24 major automotive makers competing for that award this year. First time the history of MotorTrend that a new automotive maker has won that ‘car of the year’ so it’s a big deal,” Boike said.

He added that it shows the hard work the Lucid Motor team has put in to get to this point and it showcases their technology.

Lucid Motors looked at 60 sites and over 13 states to find where they wanted to call their company home. Boike shared that every time, it was pointed back to setting up in Casa Grande.

The “Lucid Air” has many features, “what’s amazing about it, it looks like a mid-size sedan, and it is, it’s the length of a mid-size sedan and it’s the interior space of a full-size sedan,” Boike said.

This model has more room by not having the transmission and combustion engine, you get a lot of room, “so the designers start over, they’ve got a clean slate on how to build a car,” Boike said.

Because this is an electric vehicle, it needs some time to charge, but “it’s the fastest charging 300 miles you’re going to get. In about 20 minutes you can charge over 300 more miles of range, so it’s the fastest to get to 300,” Boike said.

The ‘Dream’ edition, utilizing Lucid’s high-end technology, are about $169,000 but the standard model, “Lucid Air Pure” will start around $80,000.