American EV maker Lucid will finally come to the UK in 2027 with the Cosmos, a rival to the BMW iX3 and Volvo EX60.
The premium SUV will be unveiled later this year ahead of production starting at the company’s recently completed plant in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Lucid will then follow up in 2028 with the more off-road-and adventure-focused Earth and a bigger, more practical derivative of the Cosmos after that.
The Cosmos is the first of Lucid’s new range of ‘mid-size’ models. It is built on an entirely new platform that uses a bespoke 800V architecture, but it is powered by even more compact and efficient electric motors than those offered today.
Lucid’s UK arrival has been long awaited and will come five years after It launched in continental Europe. There, it sells the Air saloon (pictured below) and has just started deliveries of the Gravity SUV.
However, European president Lawrence Hamilton told Autocar that we shouldn’t expect to see either of those cars in the UK any time soon due to the need for a right-hand drive conversion. While RHD was taken into account during development, it would require additional work. By contrast, the Cosmos is developed to have it from the start.
“It’s a case of making sure we’ve got the right product for the market opportunity that exists,” he said. “To engineer Air and Gravity for right-hand drive is a big investment, and there has to be a return on that investment. The volume opportunity really exists with the mid-size cars”.
He added that if the Cosmos does well, it may generate the funds in the future to justify converting the Gravity to RHD.
Hamilton sees strong market appeal for both the mainstream Cosmos and off-road-flavoured Earth, pointing to the continuing success of adventure-themed premium cars like Land Rovers and the Mercedes G-Class. “So the more utilitarian direction, we definitely see appeal for that in Europe,” he said. “It’s a statement piece about the way people want to spend their time. And there’s obviously huge market demand for the sleeker, sportier CUVs.”
Sales in Europe so far have been slow, but Hamilton mostly puts this down to Lucid’s gradual start with direct-sales stores. “The strategy was always quite clear, which is to start relatively small and modestly,” he said. “Arguably, Air and Gravity are proofs of concept and brand-building – they show the world what we’re capable of doing. Mid-size [cars, like the Cosmos] will provide that capability to a bigger mass market”.
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