Lucid Air Is Officially The World's Most Aerodynamic Car

The Lucid Motor Air is one of the Tesla Model S rivals that we really have our eyes on closely. The company has made many bold claims, including that it hopes to have a 1,800-horsepower all-electric car on the market in the near future. While that is an exciting prospect, the almost production-ready Air isn't short on power either. It's not all about power either, and the stunning new model that will be built in Arizona is promising a 400-mile range too, and in utmost luxury. Those looks actually help the range, because they're perfectly sculpted to minimize drag. This has now been confirmed by a verified drag coefficient figure of just 0.21, 0.03 better than the Model S and 0.04 better than the Porsche Taycan.

Lucid Motors claims that good aerodynamic efficiency was a part of the foundation phase of the Air's design, and it's a good stance to take. When Bugatti chose to beat the Veyron's top speed with the Veyron Super Sport, it took a lot more than just raw power to achieve the company's goals, and aerodynamics were critical to the achievement. We don't need to outline how important this can be in maximizing range on an electric vehicle too. According to Lucid, much of the car's design is based on lessons learned in Formula One, so we can expect the car to be stable, not just slippery.

In Windshear's Concord, North Carolina wind tunnel, the Lucid Air was subjected to wind speeds reaching 180 mph. A 5,100-horsepower motor shoved 47,500 cubic feet of air per second through the tunnel. Lucid also took the opportunity to disclose that a Lucid Air prototype achieved a GPS-confirmed top speed of 235 mph and plans to do yet more high-speed testing over the summer. With such impressive aerodynamic figures, such high power, and such an impressive top speed, the Air is on course to totally derail Tesla's claims of dominating the electric vehicle market. Here's hoping that even more advances come from this healthy competition.

Check the list with the most aerodynamic cars.