It seems Lucid just can’t stop tripping over its own shoelaces when it comes to end-of-lease charges. What began as a few isolated complaints has grown into a steady chorus of frustration, as more customers share stories online about the surprisingly steep bills arriving when their leases wrap up.

Read: Lucid Wants Thousands In Lease Charges For Scratches And A Missing Key Fob

The latest example might be the most egregious we’ve seen so far, and cases like this are already pushing some customers to abandon plans for leasing a Lucid altogether.

Mounting Lease Complaints

As we’ve seen in several recent instances, the first charge this customer faced was for a front bumper replacement. According to the inspector’s report, when the Air was returned, 10 small rock chips, a one-inch crack, and a one-inch scratch were deemed enough to justify replacing the entire bumper. The bill came in at $2,400.

However, this isn’t the most ridiculous charge. The owner notes that the right taillight had a small hairline crack along a glue line. They mentioned that the crack isn’t noticeable unless you zoom in, and that it’s so small it doesn’t even allow for any water ingress. Despite this, they’ve been charged $4,900 for a replacement.

The lessee was also billed $100 for minor damage to the left taillight, which seems inconsistent given the note that the entire unit would be replaced, something that can’t reasonably be done for that amount. Completing the tally was a $200 repair for a seven-inch scrape on the left front wheel.

The automaker’s leasing division, Lucid Financial Services, partners with Bank of America, which is believed to contract independent inspection firms to evaluate vehicles when leases conclude.

The Backlash Builds

Stories like this are taking a toll on Lucid’s image. On Reddit, one user said they had planned to switch from a Rivian to a Lucid when their current lease ended but changed their mind after seeing how these charges were handled. They added that they’d only reconsider “if Lucid get their act together.”

Another commenter said they canceled their Gravity order “100% because of” the excessive end-of-lease fees.

What Lucid Has To Say

It appears Lucid is aware of growing customer discontent. In an email recently sent to a leasing customer and shared to Carscoops, the car manufacturer acknowledged the issues and clarified what end-of-lease charges are appropriate:

“At Lucid Motors, we strive to deliver an exceptional experience at every stage of ownership, including the conclusion of your lease. We understand that some customers have encountered concerns or confusion during the lease-return process, and we want to acknowledge those experiences directly,” the letter reads.

“We sincerely apologize for any frustration or inconvenience you may have experienced. Your feedback has made it clear that, in some cases, our communication, inspection, and billing processes did not meet the standards of transparency and fairness that we hold ourselves to.

“Lucid is currently reviewing all recent lease-end charges to ensure they are accurate, appropriate, and consistent with our published policies. We are also working closely with our finance and inspection partners to improve clarity in inspection reports, final billing, and the overall return experience.

“In addition to these measures, please note that underbody plate scratches and any scratches smaller than 3.5 inches on the body of the vehicle are not subject to charges. We have also eliminated charges for wheel scrapes that are less than 3.5 inches, and reduced charges for wheel scrapes between 3.5 inches and 12 inches to $200. Additionally, there will be no charges for any interior stain that is less than 3.5 inches.

“If you believe that a charge you received may be inaccurate or would like to request a review, please contact Lucid Financial Services at 1-833-423-0369.

“Thank you for being part of the Lucid community and for giving us the opportunity to make this right. Your trust and satisfaction are of the utmost importance to us.”

While Lucid’s acknowledgment and policy adjustments suggest an attempt to regain trust, the lasting effect will likely depend on whether future lease customers see tangible change rather than another round of apologies.

For as good as the Lucid Air and Gravity are, their price tags keep them out of reach for most buyers. Thankfully, the American brand is working on a more affordable mid-size SUV, and this is our first chance to see it from the rear.

The teaser image arrives almost exactly a year after Lucid first previewed the model’s front, timed to align with an important new partnership with Nvidia.

What Are We Seeing?

The image itself is deliberately dark, but there’s enough light to reveal a three-quarter rear view of what could be named the Earth.

Compared to the Gravity, it’s noticeably smaller, with a roofline that slopes sharply into a compact decklid. The more steeply raked rear glass gives it a sportier silhouette, setting it apart from its larger sibling and bringing it closer in profile to Tesla’s Model Y.

Read: Lucid Teases New Midsize EV That’s Big On Curves, Starting Under $50K

Additionally, Lucid has equipped it with simple horizontal LED taillights, no doubt cheaper than the complex units found on the Air and Gravity.

Other important details visible in this teaser include the newly designed door handle sitting flush with the bodywork and distinctive wheel arches.

Lucid plans to release more than one vehicle on its forthcoming mid-size platform, although details about the others are limited.

We know production of this new SUV will be handled by the carmaker’s AMP-2 factory in Saudi Arabia and should start before the end of next year. It’s expected to hit the market for less than $50,000.

Lucid x Nvidia

The company dropped this teaser of the mid-size model alongside a critical new partnership with Nvidia. Moving forward, Lucid will adopt Nvidia’s Drive AV platform, which promises eyes-off, hands-off, and mind-off Level 4 autonomous driving.

Lucid’s existing DreamDrive Pro system was developed in-house and has already been improved in the Gravity thanks to Nvidia’s systems, allowing for Level 2++ semi-autonomous driving.

To achieve Level 4 driving, Lucid will incorporate Nvidia’s full suite of sensors, including cameras, radar, and LiDAR. Starting with its mid-size models, each vehicle will include two Nvidia Drive AGX Thor accelerated computers running the Nvidia DriveOS operating system.

Lucid says “this next-generation AI computing platform, with its centralized architecture and redundant processors, will unify all automated driving functions, enabling a seamless evolution through the autonomy spectrum.”

The strengthened relationship between Lucid and Nvidia will also bring new automated-driving features to the Gravity via over-the-air software updates.

Lucid has come under fire in the past year for hitting customers with unexpected charges at the end of their leases, often for tiny areas of damage. What began as a few scattered complaints has grown into a avalanche, with more and more owners coming forward to share similar experiences online.

It’s worth noting that Lucid’s leasing arm, Lucid Financial Services, operates in partnership with Bank of America. The bank apparently employs independent inspection firms to assess vehicles when leases end, which adds another layer between Lucid and the customer.

Not too long after we brought you the story of one Lucid Air lessee being charged $2,400 for underbody damage, another lessee has taken to social media to describe their dismay after receiving an even heftier bill.

According to a post on Reddit, they scored a decent deal on an 18-month leases for an Air, but were shocked to be charged $3,800 at the end of the lease for what Lucid describes as “Excess Wear.”

Read: Lucid Owner Hit With Surprise Bill Months After Turning In Their Lease

The first charge, $300, makes sense because one of the key fobs was missing. Then came the single biggest of them all: $2,400 for a damaged front bumper. According to Lucid’s inspector, the bumper had two scratches, one six-inch and one five-inch.

Interestingly, the lower front bumper cover has a pair of 15-inch scratches but will be replaced free of charge. That’s the same part a separate lessee damaged recently and was charged $2,400 for.

Then there are the wheels. Lucid spotted a four-inch area of curb rash on the left front wheel and charged $200 to repair it. It then noticed 19 inches worth of curb rash on the right rear wheel, but rather than repairing it, charged $900 for a replacement.

Paint Chips Are Fine, But Not Curb Rash

On the bright side, the company appears to have accepted some areas of wear and tear on the cover. For example, there are some minor chips on the hood and front cowl and a small dent on the left front door that it hasn’t charged the customer for.

Lucid has offered some compelling leasing deals for the Air, but factoring in the end-of-lease charges, this customer saw their monthly costs effectively increase by $200.

Understandably, people on Reddit weren’t impressed by this incident. “Absolutely crazy! This is equivalent to going to a restaurant and charging for every salt grain added to the dish,” one person wrote.

Another chimed in with their own experience: “I’ve had three Maserati leases, one Ghibli, two GranTurismos that I know Ally/Chase lost a bunch of money from… scrapped them and curbed the wheel and even returned with a crack in the tail light, zero charge and even got my security deposit back on each one!”

If you’ve leased a Lucid yourself, we’d like to hear from you. Did your experience line up with these reports, or was the process smooth from start to finish? Share your story in the comments or reach out to us directly.

You’d expect Germany’s own automakers to dominate the German Car of the Year (GCOTY) awards and not necessarily because the judges are partisan. BMW, VW and Mercedes cars work well on German roads because they’re developed both for them and on them.

It’s a home-field advantage that usually shows. Yet like a WWII GI cutting in on a beaten German soldier’s dance to steal his girl, two American cars have just walked away with major wins in the 2026 competition.

Related: Cadillac Confirms New Gas-Powered Sedan

The awards, which group contenders into five categories, including Budget, Compact, Premium, Luxury and Performance, are voted on by a panel of 40 German and international motor journalists. While the overall winner won’t be revealed until November 17, we already know the victors in each category.

American Upset

The Lucid Air Sapphire, America’s electric interpretation of a luxurious hyper-sedan, took home the crown in the Performance segment. That’s hardly a shock once you’ve looked at its numbers.

With 1,234 hp (1,251 PS / 920 kW) and an ability to break 2 seconds to 60 mph (97 kmh; with rollout) the Sapphire is like a four-seat physics experiment. One that makes German heavy-hitters like the BMW M5 and Porsche Taycan Turbo GT look slow.

Meanwhile, over in the Luxury category, Cadillac’s 615 hp (624 PS / 459 kW) Vistiq took top honors. Cadillac only recently returned to Europe, but the sleek Vistiq is proof that Cadillac’s EV push isn’t just resonating in the States.

And this isn’t the first time GCOTY judges have had their heads turned by a Caddy. This year’s Luxury win follows last year’s success for the Cadillac Lyriq, which won the same class, but was beaten to the overall GCOTY title by the BMW 5-series and i5. Maybe the Vistiq can do better.

To take outright gold, Cadillac’s three-row EV will have to beat not only the Air, but three strong European and Asian entries. Dacia’s Bigster is the 2026 GCOTY Budget Car of the Year, the electric Skoda Elroq scooped the Compact award and Hyundai’s Ioniq 9 was named best Premium car.

Changing Currents

In case you hadn’t noticed, that means four out of the five class winners are EVs, and it’s that shift to electric power that has helped American cars up their relevance game in Europe.

Perhaps most telling of all, not a single German brand made the winners’ list this year, with the nearest contender being Skoda, a Czech marque under the VW Group umbrella.

Lucid sometimes offers some pretty sweet lease deals, and on paper, they can look like a solid way to get behind the wheel of an Air without the long-term commitment. But as we’ve seen more than once, there’s usually a sting in the tail. If it’s not a hefty down payment, it’s what happens when the car goes back at the end of the term.

Back in August, we reported that Lucid itself acknowledged problems with its lease return program. The process, it admitted, wasn’t consistent. Damage assessments were all over the place, and some customers ended up with surprisingly high bills for barely noticeable issues.

Ongoing Frustrations

Two months on, the situation doesn’t appear to have improved. At least two owners have come forward with worrying stories, and one has even taken the matter to regulators.

Over a week ago, one owner posted a thread on Reddit titled “Just got my excess wear report and it’s ridiculous.” Plenty of folks are upset to pay extra cash after a lease ends, but this person seems to have a really good case.

Read: Lucid Lease Customers Hit With Four-Figure Bills Over Scuffs You Can’t Even See

Photos showing the underside of the Lucid Air, along with the digital invoice from the company, reveal that the $2,400 charge was issued for scratches found on the car’s underbody panel.

We’re not talking about a panel that is torn into several pieces, features a giant hole or two, or one that is somewhat missing. No, we’re referring to the kind of scratches that almost anyone with a low-to-the-ground car would have.

The owner claims that he never had an accident or drove over anything significant, but instead that these marks are from things as innocuous as speed bumps.

“Guess we’re supposed to only drive on perfectly flat roads with no speed bumps, and make sure to ‘research’ every driveway before entering,” the frustrated owner said. Interestingly, Lucid seems to have decided not to charge for the fact that the owner’s manual was missing from the car.

Different Case, Same Pattern

This isn’t the only recent example of Lucid’s lease troubles. Another customer, who was billed $585, may have an even more compelling case. According to the owner, the Lucid representative at the lease return appointment found no damage whatsoever.

Less than two weeks later, though, a third-party company carried out a “final inspection” and identified $785 worth of wear-and-tear damage. The owner says Lucid waived $200 for a wheel, but still demanded the remaining $585.

“I just filed a complaint with the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation (DFPI) against Lucid Financial Services and their collection agency over a bogus “excess wear & tear” charge,” they wrote in a Reddit thread.

It’s pretty clear that owners are losing faith in the brand’s lease policy. “If that’s what it’s going to be like, we’re all screwed. There’s no possible way that part doesn’t get scratched or gouged – that’s what it’s there for, to protect the rest of the undercarriage,” said one. “Up next, being charged for scratches on the inside of wheels,” said another.

For now, the ball is squarely in Lucid’s court to explain how it’s handling these lease-end assessments and what steps it plans to take to rebuild customer trust. If you’ve leased a Lucid yourself, drop your experience in the comments below, we’d like to hear how it went down.

Photo: TackleTurbulent9134 / Lucid

After a promising start in the EV spotlight, the road ahead looks steeper for Lucid. Much like fellow American startup Rivian, Lucid is facing a difficult 2025, with financial pressures mounting after the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, which also helped lower lease payments, was scrapped.

The company behind the Air sedan and new Gravity SUV built 3,891 vehicles in the third quarter, falling short of projections and trailing the 5,621 average estimate from Bloomberg analysts. During the same period, it delivered a total of 4,078 vehicles, representing a significant jump from the 2,781 vehicles delivered in Q3 last year.

Read: Lucid CEO Reminds Everyone Tesla’s Model S Hasn’t Changed Since The Obama Era

Year-to-date, both production and delivery numbers are higher than in 2024. During the first nine months, Lucid produced 9,966 vehicles in the US and delivered 10,496. For context, the company delivered 10,241 vehicles across all of 2024, a 71 percent jump from 6,001 in 2023. While the momentum shows progress, it still trails what analysts had hoped to see.

Adding to that, Lucid confirmed it has built over 1,000 more vehicles awaiting final assembly at its facility in Saudi Arabia, an important piece of its long-term manufacturing strategy.

Leaving aside analyst forecasts, we’re talking under 10,000 cars in a span of nine months, a number that in no way is sustainable in the long term. For context, Tesla now sells that many vehicles roughly every four days in America, and even younger rivals like Rivian are comfortably outpacing Lucid’s output.

Shifting Gears With Gravity

While the latest numbers suggest growth, it’s also worth noting that Lucid is no longer a single-model company. The Gravity SUV has officially begun reaching customers, marking a key step in broadening its lineup. However, the company hasn’t disclosed how many units of the Air and Gravity were included in its third-quarter deliveries.

Even so, Lucid expects the Gravity to take the sales lead through the remainder of the year, potentially becoming the brand’s volume driver.

The next chapter for Lucid could prove even more critical. A mid-size electric SUV is set for unveiling next year, positioned to enter the market at under $50,000. The model could finally give Lucid a foothold in the more accessible end of the EV market, where volume growth matters most.

Provided the company secures the necessary funding, production of this new SUV will take place at Lucid’s Saudi Arabian facility.

The electric super-sedan rivalry just tilted in a new direction. Lucid’s Air Sapphire has claimed the title of the quickest-accelerating production car Motor Trend has ever tested, beating not only Tesla’s Model S Plaid, but also Porsche’s Taycan Turbo GT.

What makes the feat even more impressive is that the Air Sapphire managed it while being larger, heavier, and more luxuriously appointed than its rivals. The secret weapon, as it turns out, is rubber. Well, that and boatloads of uninterrupted power.

Breaking the Two-Second Mark

After jumping behind the wheel of a 1,234hp Air Sapphire fitted with Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS Elect LM1 tires, now offered as an $8,250 option plus installation straight from Lucid, Motor Trend recorded a 1.881-second sprint to 60 mph (96 km/h).

That’s noticeably faster than the Air Sapphire previously tested with the standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4S LM1 tires, which needed 2.2 seconds to hit 60 mph.

Watch: How Fast Can The Lucid Air Sapphire Lap The Nürburgring?

For comparison, the publication recorded a 2.07-second 0-60 mph time in the Tesla Model S Plaid. Until the Air Sapphire came along, the Taycan Turbo GT Weissach was the king of MT’s acceleration tests, recently hitting 60 mph just 0.006 seconds slower than the Lucid. Importantly, all of the times were recorded on an unprepped surface and include a one-foot rollout.

Motor Trend hasn’t said how quickly the Air Sapphire is without factoring in rollout, but tests of the Model S Plaid and Taycan Turbo GT show rollout adds about 0.2 seconds to the 0-60 mph time.

Stretching Its Lead

Down the quarter-mile, the Air Sapphire, priced at $250,500 and rising to $258,750 as tested, opens up a bigger gap on the competition. It had previously run a 9.21-second time at 157.1 mph with the standard Michelin tires, but fit a set of the stickier Pirellis and it takes just 9.03 seconds to launch down a 1,320-foot drag strip.

The new rubber also help in braking and handling. The EV needs just 93 feet to brake from 60 mph, which is the same as the Taycan Turbo GT Weissach and 10 feet less than the Air Sapphire with standard tires. It also ran around MT’s figure-eight course in 22.3 seconds, a 0.3-second improvement over a previous test, but slightly slower than the Porsche’s record-breaking 21.9 seconds.

The Lucid Air may already be known as one of the most advanced electric cars on the road, boasting the longest range of any EV sold in the United States, but the brand itself is still fighting an uphill financial battle. Each vehicle sold continues to come at a steep loss, so its recent tie-up with Uber, along with efforts to lure drivers away from rival brands, could prove critical to securing a stable future.

Read: Lucid’s Next EV Isn’t A Sedan, It’s An Affordable Off-Roader Made In Saudi Arabia

Through its tie-up with Uber, Lucid will receive $300 million in investments, making Uber its second-largest shareholder after the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Uber will purchase 20,000 Gravity SUVs from Lucid and use them as part of an expansive robotaxi fleet that’ll be introduced across the States starting next year.

Big Backer, Big Bet

This deal could not have come at a more crucial time for Lucid. Following the Trump administration’s decision to axe the EV tax credit and eliminate fines for carmakers who don’t comply with emissions regulations, electric vehicle manufacturers face the prospect of falling sales. Even so, Lucid chief executive Marc Winteroff is confident the Uber deal will serve as the start of an important new era for the brand.

“The largest ride-hailing business in the world does a strategic deal and invests,” Winteroff said. “It tells you something… 20,000 is a starting point. The sky’s the limit.”

Lucid is also thinking of innovative ways to make the most of its Uber deal. According to the firm’s leader, it will sell vehicles to fleet managers on the Uber platform, and wants to source revenue from charging on a per-mile basis. Winteroff added that the removal of the tax credit is “a big number of pure profit that we know have to live without,” so it’s understandable why the firm wants to make the most out of the Uber deal.

Taking Aim at Tesla

During the same interview, Winteroff moved beyond the Uber deal and took a thinly veiled swipe at Elon Musk’s company. He said Lucid has noticed a rising number of Tesla owners making the switch, pointing to the brand’s aging lineup and Musk’s political involvement, which has turned off many buyers.

“We have seen an uptick, that’s definitely the case, in Europe and also here in the US,” Lucid’s CEO revealed. “The Model S, nothing has changed in 12 years now… [customers] are actively looking for other options.” However, Lucid has a long way to go before it can truly threaten Tesla when it comes to sales numbers.

Key to Lucid’s future plans is a mid-size SUV. This new model will start at under $50,000 and may be named the Earth. It will take styling cues from the brand’s existing models, and its production is scheduled to start by the end of 2026. It will also spawn a rugged version inspired by the recent Gravity X Concept and be followed up by an additional model, set to launch in 2028.