Yahoo Autos The 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire Is an Insanely Quick Luxury Liner
Between about 1910 and 1952, 35 different ocean liners held the completely unofficial, totally marketable, wholly awesome “Blue Riband.” Though the award was informal, it was widely known that the ship that held it was the fastest across the Atlantic. It was likely more prestigious because it was unsanctioned.
The Blue Riband went to such legendary liners as the Mauretania, Bremen, Normandie, Queen Mary, and United States. Ships that were awesomely fast but also luxurious, steady and comfortable. Lucid’s latest variation on its Air luxury sedan, the Sapphire, is chasing the four-wheel Blue Riband. It’s swift and cushy; tasteful and athletic; big and brawny; but not sporty in a conventional sense. Its sole competitive aspiration is that chase for the Blue Riband of all-electric superliners. And, holy hot shit in a crystal champagne flute, is it quick.
Standing along the drag strip at Sonoma Raceway in California’s second-best wine county, Lucid had two of the new three-motor Sapphires set up to drag race one another. One with former Stig Ben Collins driving and the other with Lucid engineer Esther Unti at the wheel. The track may (or may not) have been drowned with so much VHT that any wandering zebras’ hooves would have stuck in place, but no matter. These big sedans made run after run in the low nines across the quarter mile and over 150 mph. Like damn-near nine-flat. A 9.1 seemed, well, disappointing.
It was astonishing to watch.
The Sapphire is the bonkers version of the regular Lucid Air. Stretching out 197.5-inches long over a 116.5-inch wheelbase, it’s roughly the size of a Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan but weighs dang-near 100-lbs more than the massive Mercedes-Maybach S 580 4Matic almost-limo. In fact, at a claimed 5336-lbs, the Sapphire is 570-lb heavier than the claimed weight of the Tesla Model S Plaid.
Let’s go back. Way back to 1970 when the NHRA is launching the new Pro Stock class at the Winternationals in Pomona, California. More than 40 cars, most campaigned by veterans of the Super Stock and Modified Production class wars of the 1960s, were entered. Hemi-powered Plymouth Barracudas, Chevrolet Camaros powered by the mighty 427 Big Block, and Ford Mavericks engorged by Ford’s stunning 427 SOHC V-8. All weighing a minimum of 2700 lbs and conforming to a seven-pounds per cubic inch standard. The peak of factory muscle prepped and optimized for drag racing by legends. The low qualifier for that first Winternationals Pro Stock field? Ronnie Sox in the glory-bound Sox & Martin ‘Cuda running a 10.00 flat at 139.1 mph.
A Lucid Air Sapphire, an NFL defensive tackle more than two-and-a-half tons, with leather-lined seating for five in air-conditioned comfort, and now including Apple CarPlay, would have had the entire 1970 Winternationals Pro Stock field covered by a full second. Then R&T occasional contributor and proprietor of Engineering Explained on YouTube Jason Fenske got behind the wheel of a Sapphire and put it into the eights.
Yes, I’ve made this comparison with early NHRA Pro Stockers before. Because I’m old enough to have loved Pro Stock back then. And the performance of current electric luxury sedans has knocked my brain 14-degrees off top dead center.
Since Sonoma Raceway is an NHRA sanctioned facility, the assembled journalistic horde had to wear helmets and fire suits when let loose to take their own runs in the Sapphire. And the Sapphire would have required a driveshaft loop for safety’s sake if it had a driveshaft.
What makes a Lucid Air a Sapphire is the addition of that third electric motor. So instead of one motor on the front axle and one in the back, there’s now one in front and two in back. That bounces total thrust available up from Lucid Air Dream Edition’s 1111 hp and 1025 lb-ft of consistent torque to 1234 hp and 1430 lb-ft of torque. That 209 lb-ft of additional torque means the 100 lbs of extra heft is easily overwhelmed.
Despite this increase in pure grunt, the Sapphire still doesn’t feel as a ridiculously violent during hard acceleration as a Tesla Model S Plaid. Maybe it’s in how the software manages the drivetrain or how much initial bite the 265/35R20 front and 295/30R21 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S have, but the Sapphire is composed while the Tesla goes full frenzy. Yes, the acceleration is still intimidating and daunting and all kinds of mind-warping silly, but it’s not scary. And the Plaid can be flat-out terrifying.
Leveraging the torque vectoring enabled by adding the second rear motor, the Sapphire can be hustled around the big NASCAR course at Sonoma with dramatic alacrity. It takes a set entering the corner and then the tail can be felt catching up as the apex approaches. Accelerated past that apex and the nose grabs first with the hind end almost pushing it toward the exit. This isn’t a car that needs nth-level skill to rip around at stunning velocities; even my grandmother could do it efficiently. And she passed away in 1993.
Whatever alchemy of bars and springs and optimized tire selection Lucid has conjured up here, at speed the Sapphire is a good step beyond the earlier, line-topping Dream Edition or GTP. But, that in mind, it doesn’t deliver the sort of driving intimacy that comes from the best BMW M cars or any Porsche including the Taycan. That intuitive responsiveness that Ferrari and Porsche have mastered may not be easily replicable, but it’s a standard that Lucid is obviously pursuing. It’s just not there yet.
And maybe Lucid can’t get there until it can drop a half-ton off the Air’s curb weight or several of the laws of physics are repealed. This is a very quick—1.8-seconds to 60 mph, per Lucid—and very fast—205 mph top speed—luxury liner. The Normandie was never renowned for its steering feel. Or for how well its keel communicated while slaloming past icebergs in the North Atlantic.
Going through all the various driving modes, launch control systems and on-board entertainment options on the Lucid Air is the stuff of sales brochures and internet configurators. There wasn’t a chance to test the range provided by the 118-kilowatt hour battery pack (Lucid claims up to 427 miles) during this short and Lucid-supervised exposure. How effective is the charging system? Go buy one and then let R&T know how it works for you.
The Sapphire version of the Air benefits primarily from being a Lucid Air. Designed in California with Saudi backing and assembled in Arizona, it’s elegant and seems to be precisely constructed. Those are both things not confidently said about any Tesla. Of course, it’s dead nuts silent since dead nuts is the standard in the electric car realm. What’s different about the Lucid is that it’s a nice capsule in which to enjoy such sensory isolation during a cruise. And a nice place to enjoy the whacko wonder of extreme acceleration.
One difference between the Sapphire’s cabin and other Airs is that the wrap-into-the-roof windshield isn’t available with this performance model. No big loss. That much glass only guarantees five minutes of awe-inspiring novelty followed by years extreme interior solar loading.
With a retail price of $249,000 the Lucid Air Sapphire ought to be damned good. It is. And here in California, it has the advantage of not being yet another Tesla. But at that price it’s unacceptable that the California bear logo affixed to front fenders goes nose forward on the left side of the car, but butt forward on the right. Bears don't wander around backwards. Fix the bear.
For now, however, whatever direction the bear is headed, the Lucid Air Sapphire holds the unofficial automotive Blue Riband.
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