The 900 hp battery-powered mid-size sedan should give the Tesla Model S a run for its money
The name Atieva may not ring any bells, but you probably remember the test-mule van that beat the BMW i8 and Dodge Viper in a drag race.
Well, the electric-vehicle startup has now changed its name from Atieva to Lucid Motors and has released the first teaser photos of the upcoming model.
The Silicon Valley company's first product will be a mid-size sedan, which may arrive in concept form by the end of this year before a production model goes on sale by 2018. The electric model will feature an 87-kWh battery pack feeding two electric motors with an output of 900 hp for a ludicrous (pun intended) 0 to 60 mph (0-96 km/h) sprint of under than three seconds.
While the teaser images uploaded on the company's website reveal some sleek design details, we don't know much about the car. Lucid Motors says the sedan will offer "long-range driving and exhilarating acceleration," as well as "world-class interior" space, automated driving systems, and "intuitive user interfaces."
Founded in 2007 by a group of former Tesla and Oracle execs, Atieva has received funding from Japan's Mitsui as well as China's Beijing Auto. Now renamed Lucid Motors, it plans to build a plant with an initial capacity of 20,000 vehicles that would eventually reach a yearly output of 130,000 vehicles.