Lucid Air Sapphire Faster To 80 MPH Than An F1 Car, Says CEO

The Lucid Air Sapphire was revealed last year, billed as the performance sedan that would dethrone the rapid Tesla Model S Plaid. But according to company CEO Peter Rawlinson, the Air Sapphire is even quicker than a Formula 1 car.

Rawlinson told Top Gear that he is currently testing a prototype on the road and is seriously impressed with the performance. "If you put that car on the Formula 1 grid, it'll outrun the rest of the grid up to about 80 miles an hour. Above 80, [F1 cars] get downforce and have better power-to-weight ratios. But it's quite a machine."

Lucid confirmed that the Air Sapphire could dispatch the 0 to 60 mph run in 1.89 seconds, making it faster than the Model S Plaid - on paper, at least. But we've already seen just how quick this performance EV is.

Giving the Lucid Air Sapphire these incredible capabilities is the unique tri-motor setup, which produces more than 1,200 horsepower, with an exact figure still unpublished. The automaker claims the high-performance sedan can hit 100 mph in less than four seconds and cover the quarter-mile in under nine seconds - it will be interesting to see if it can destroy the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170.

For the sake of the environment, Rawlinson truly believes we need to transition to electric vehicles as soon as possible. "We need to sort of make the transition to sustainable mobility much, much faster. Right now, there's only one true runner in this race, and it's Tesla," he said.

As you may know, Rawlinson previously worked for Tesla and headed up development for the Model S. Since then, he has pulled no punches since departing and establishing Lucid. Recently, Rawlinson said the automaker may eventually adopt Tesla's NACS connector, but not in its current form.

But if he wants to challenge Tesla, why not offer more affordable electric vehicles? "This is not well understood. If we tried to create a mass-market car to start with, we wouldn't be having this conversation now. I would've needed to raise $14 billion, not the initial $1.4 billion, and no one would've given me $14 billion as a startup."

Rawlinson has recently said there are plans to introduce Model Y and Model 3 rivals after the Gravity SUV hits the scene. "After Gravity, we're going to do Model 3 and Model Y competitors. We think around $50,000, maybe $48,000 - something like that. It's too early to say, but that's the vision," said the CEO earlier this month.

Let's not forget that Tesla also started out with high-end products, such as the original Roadster, the Model S, and then the Model X. Fast forward to the present day, and the smaller Model Y and Model 3 are the top sellers.