Lucid Motors unveils electric car to be built at Arizona plant

PHOENIX — Watch out, Tesla. A new luxury electric vehicle is right around the corner.

Lucid Motors has unveiled the Air, which will be built in Casa Grande beginning in 2018, at its research and development facility in Silicon Valley.

The company will begin the first phase of the 500,000-square-foot facility early next year.

According to Phoenix Business Journal, the four-door sedan is expected to be priced upwards of $100,000. The company anticipates the Air will rival other luxury vehicles such as the Tesla Model S, Mercedes E Class and BMW Series 7.

The Air was supposedly designed differently than its proclaimed rivals. The overall car is smaller than its competitors, but Peter Rawlinson, the chief technical officer at Lucid, explained the the interior is actually larger. He stated the car was designed in order to provide a significant volume of interior space.

Lucid announced that it will approximately produce 20,000 vehicles per year by 2018, but will like to eventually get that number up to 130,000.

Once the plant is fully operational, Arizona Commerce Authority expects the state to receive a minimum of $80 million in increased state revenue, if not more, after only investing $40 million in tax credits and grants.

The company stated back in November that its Casa Grande plant will employ 2,000 people by 2022.

Gov. Doug Ducey expressed his gratitude toward the company at the November press conference, and stated that it’s due to Arizona’s low taxes and light regulations that helped bring Lucid to the desert.

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