The 2023 Lucid Air Sapphire Has 3 Motors, 1,200-HP, Can Hit 60 MPH in Under 2 Seconds
The three-motor 2023 Lucid Air Sapphire will cost at least $249,000 when it shows up next year.
If nearly 1,000 horsepower in an electric sedan just isn’t enough, Lucid has an answer for you. On Friday, the automaker announced an even-more powerful version of its electric sedan by way of the Lucid Air Sapphire. The specs are heady: more than 1,200 horsepower (exact power coming later), 0-60 mph in less than two seconds, 0-100 mph in less than four seconds, and a quarter mile in less than nine seconds, and a top speed faster than 200 mph. The cost for all that? A cool quarter-million bucks to start.
According to Lucid, the sedan will have the hardware to back all that with three electric motors, two at the rear and one at the front. The automaker also claims that massive carbon-ceramic brakes and a performance-tuned suspension will arrest the Air Sapphire if the road turns into something other than a quarter-mile dragstrip.
The twin motor setup at the rear allows the Air Sapphire to have torque vectoring at the rear wheels to carve a tighter line, should someone decide to push their uber-luxe sedan into twisties on a track.
The Air Sapphire will ride on the same skeleton as the Air sedan, which is to say a big back seat, lots of interior space and luxury amenities. For your $249,000, the Air Sapphire includes black leather with black Alcantara and blue stitching, Mojave darkwood interior trim, a massive glass roof and fun bears on the headrests. (It’s Lucid’s way of reminding us they’re based in California.) There are even carbon-fiber inserts for the wheels to make the Air Sapphire more efficient—if that's of any interest to buyers opting in for a sedan with four-digit horsepower figures.
Lucid isn’t discussing many specifics about the Sapphire sedan—no specific power output, brake size, suspension hardware, or estimated range—but did say the Sapphire name could be applied as a “brand” for the relatively small EV maker in the future. Whether that means more Sapphire editions later isn’t clear, but the Air Sapphire will arrive next year.
