Negative YouTube reviews of cars have earned a certain reputation over the years. Some are so brutal they’re blamed, rightly or not, for helping to sink entire automakers, like the high-profile case of Fisker about a year ago. This time, though, a critical video sparked something different. A public takedown led not to fallout, but to potential fixes, and not just for one frustrated owner.

Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained leased a Lucid Air, ended up having issues with it, and has now been in direct contact with the brand. The result is going to benefit countless Lucid owners in the future.

A Critical Eye Meets a Willing Ear

When Jason Fenske published a blunt video detailing his disappointment with a newly leased Lucid Air Touring, it wasn’t a rage-bait takedown or a viral stunt. It was a long, technical breakdown of how a mechanically brilliant EV was being kneecapped by frustrating software, clumsy UX decisions, and some puzzling hardware quirks.

Read: Lucid Promised Luxury But All This Owner Got Was Regret And Nightmares

Rather than simply ignoring it and continuing on with its plans, the EV maker reached out. According to Fenske, what followed was a constructive discussion with engineers and even the SVP of engineering, Imad Dlala.

Evidently, the team at Lucid provided insider details and previews of upcoming changes. That’s where this story really takes its biggest turn. Lucid owners have a lot to look forward to if Fenske’s information proves reliable.

Lucid Plots a UX Overhaul

The biggest news is software. Lucid confirmed it’s actively improving phone-as-key reliability, door handle behavior, mirror positioning in reverse, percentage-versus-miles range inconsistencies, and Tesla Supercharger Plug & Charge support.

More significantly, a full UX 3.0 overhaul is planned for early fall 2026, bringing multitasking, faster profile switching, improved CarPlay stability, better voice commands, and a more intuitive interface. Owners with newer hardware, or those willing to pay to upgrade, will get access.

Lucid also confirmed vehicle-to-home power capability is coming in the first half of 2026, promising up to 17 kW peak output without requiring a separate home inverter, an area where Lucid’s hardware advantages could genuinely shine.

Fenske estimates that his Lucid could power his home for four days if they lost power, and that’s without changing any of the behavior his family is accustomed to.

Not All Feedback Gets a Reply

At the same time, he remains cautious, and rightly so. Promises aren’t fixes, and the Lucid Air still struggles with daily usability today. But admitting problems, engaging with informed criticism, and outlining concrete changes is more than many automakers manage.

In addition, this isn’t how most customers get treated. Fenske runs Engineering Explained, has a massive audience, and speaks the same technical language as Lucid’s engineering team. That context matters. Still, what Lucid outlined is meaningful. Especially for current and future owners.

Screenshot Jason Fenske

Lucid, Nuro, and Uber have used CES to unveil their production-intent robotaxi as well as the model’s in-cabin rider experience. The companies also announced on-road testing began in December, ahead of a scheduled launch in the San Francisco Bay Area later this year.

Based on the Gravity SUV, the Level 4 robotaxi features a next-generation sensor array that consists of high-resolution cameras, solid-state lidar sensors, and radar sensors. These provide a 360° view of the vehicle’s surroundings and the equipment is integrated into the Gravity’s body as well as a roof-mounted halo.

More: Uber And Lucid Partner For Thousands Of Robotaxis

Information is fed to the Nuro Driver, which is a Level 4 autonomous driving system. It’s supported by Nvidia’s Drive AGX Thor, which allows for “high-performance” computing and real-time AI processing.

Uber’s role is to own and operate the robotaxis – along with third-party fleet partners – and allow for rides using the company’s popular ride-hailing platform.

An Intuitive User Experience

While the companies are still being coy on specifics, they revealed a handful of details about the user experience. This begins as soon as the robotaxi approaches as the ‘halo’ has multiple displays that show the rider’s initials, ensuring people get into the right vehicle.

Riders are envisioned to hop in the second-row, where they’ll be greeted by a screen that says their name and where they’re going. There’s also a digital button that enables them to open the liftgate and store luggage in the back.

Once riders are ready to go, they can tap “Start Drive.” The screen will then display their estimated drop off time and animations showing what the vehicle is doing. This includes “maneuvers such as yielding to pedestrians, slowing at traffic lights, changing lanes, and dropping off a passenger.”

Riders will be able to access a handful of vehicle controls including settings for the climate control system, heated seats, and audio system. They can also contact support and tell the vehicle to pull over to the side of the road. Users can also view a traditional Uber-style map, which isn’t much of a surprise considering the ride-hailing giant developed the experience.

While a number of riders will likely be traveling solo, the companies said the robotaxi is also great for groups. It can accommodate up to six passengers and their luggage at a time.

We’ll likely learn more about the robotaxi in the coming months, but Lucid is expected to begin production later this year in Arizona. The vehicles will then be deployed in the Bay Area.

If everything goes according to plan, Uber will deploy at least 20,000 Lucid robotaxis over six years in dozens of markets around the world.

Despite a sharp drop in EV demand across much of the U.S. market, Lucid managed to chart its strongest quarter yet. Following the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate the $7,500 federal EV tax credit at the end of September, most automakers saw EV sales falter during the final stretch of 2025. Lucid, however, went in the opposite direction and closed the year with a notable uptick.

The company reported that it built 8,412 vehicles in Q4 2025, marking a 116 percent jump over the previous quarter. Deliveries also climbed to 5,345, up 31 percent. For Lucid, it wasn’t just an improvement, it was the best-performing quarter of the entire year.

Read: No Tax Credit? No Worries, Lucid Has A $7,500 Gravity Discount

The start of 2025 looked far less promising. In the first quarter, Lucid produced only 2,121 vehicles and delivered 3,109. The second quarter showed progress, with 3,863 vehicles built and 3,309 delivered. By Q3, production edged slightly to 3,891, and deliveries rose to 4,078.

Lucid’s full-year production and sales figures were also strong. It produced 18,378 vehicles in 2025, a 104 percent increase over the year before. Deliveries reached 15,841, representing a 55 percent year-over-year gain.

Helping Lucid boost its production and sales throughout the latter part of 2025 was the arrival of the all-electric Gravity SUV .While the company has yet to disclose how many units of the Gravity were produced, sold, or delivered, its presence clearly contributed to the quarter’s growth. Just how much is still unclear.

Lucid’s Own Credit

One likely reason Lucid avoided the sales slump seen elsewhere is its Advantage Credit program. Designed to soften the blow of the lost federal incentive, Lucid introduced a $7,500 credit of its own, applicable to new Gravity orders.

It was first set to expire at the end of December but has now been extended through January 18. While not a permanent fix, it offers a near-term solution for buyers left in the lurch after the tax credit rollback.

Lucid Motors has plenty on its plate already. Cash burn, slow production ramps, a delayed Gravity SUV launch, and media stories about drivers being shafted with huge repair costs. Now it can add one more thing to the list: a high-profile lawsuit from its former chief engineer that claims a serious lack of harmony at the Newark, CA, HQ.

Eric Bach, who spent a decade at Lucid and rose to become Senior Vice President of Product and Chief Engineer, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, and retaliation.

What Sparked the Fallout?

At the center of the complaint is a claim that a senior HR executive referred to him as a “German Nazi” during an internal investigation into workplace culture. Bach was born and raised in Germany and says the remark was deeply offensive and discriminatory.

Also: Spilled Water Bricks Lucid, Repair Costs As Much As A Used Corolla

According to the lawsuit, Bach learned about the comment in mid-2025, months after the start of an HR-led culture probe Bach claims was already “tainted by racist beliefs.”

During that investigation, he says he was stripped of key responsibilities, including oversight of Lucid’s electric powertrain division, and excluded from board meetings.

After encouraging a colleague to report the remark through internal channels, Bach claims Lucid confirmed the comment was made, yet failed to act meaningfully.

Pushed Out

Things escalated from there. Bach says the company began pressuring him to resign in October 2025 before firing him outright on November 5. Lucid’s public statement at the time merely said he had “departed,” offering no hint of the brewing conflict behind the scenes.

Lucid, for its part, is having none of it. The automaker issued a blunt response calling Bach’s legal claims “absurd” and says it is confident the facts will show legitimate reasons for his termination.

Company sources have pointed to long-running product delays, quality issues, and execution problems, arguing that leadership restructuring was overdue.

Bach’s responsibilities were partially handed to Emad Dlala, who was promoted to Senior Vice President of Engineering and Digital after Bach’s exit.

Tricky Timing

The lawsuit lands at an awkward moment for Lucid. The company is still trying to ramp production of the Gravity SUV while developing a more affordable midsize EV due in late 2026.

Executive turnover has been relentless, with former CEO Peter Rawlinson resigning earlier this year and multiple vice presidents exiting across different strands of the business.

Also: Lucid Teases $50K Mid-Size SUV As It Readies L4 Autonomous Driving

Bach’s complaint paints a very different picture of his standing, citing praise from board members and repeated salary increases, and even suggestions that he was being groomed for a future CTO role.

He’s now requesting damages and a very public jury trial. For a company built on calm luxury, Lucid’s latest saga is anything but serene.

Sources: Wigdor, Tech Crunch

Doctors and health influencers are always telling us that drinking tons of water is the secret to clearer skin, sharper minds, strain-free poops and longer lives. But if there’s one group that absolutely should not stay hydrated, it’s modern electric vehicles, because a few drops could leave them with a massive medical bill.

Just ask Reddit user u/raging_onyx who leased a Lucid Air and saw his Thanksgiving week turn into a $15,000 lesson in why electric cars and water should never meet.

What Happened?

The disaster started with a perfectly innocent trip to a grocery store to refill a water container. But a pothole encountered on the way back tipped that container over, causing a catalog of faults that eventually rendered the vehicle completely immobile.

Also: $4,900 For A Taillight? Lucid’s Ridiculous Lease Charges Are Scaring Off Buyers

Within seconds of the spill happening the dash lit up like Times Square, the EV jumped into limp mode, regen braking tapped out, and the driver got a warning to pull over. When he found a local residential area to stop and tried to reboot the system, the Air wouldn’t shift out of Park.

A Very Expensive Lesson

Lucid customer support, in an impressive display of holiday cheer, suggested two things: call insurance, and brace for the possibility the car was totaled. Happy Thanksgiving!

Also: Insurance Offered $1,700 For This R1T Mishap, Rivian Wanted A Fortune

There was more bad news when the first tow truck driver arrived and said he couldn’t move the sedan, since the Air wouldn’t shift into neutral. Fortunately, by the next day, neutral was found and a second truck was able to tow the stranded car.

Finally, the EV reached a service center, where the advisor initially estimated the repair at under $1,000. Bearable, right? This turned out to be off by roughly the price of a used Corolla.

The real number, the rep later confirmed, was about $15,000, and it wouldn’t be covered by warranty, because the spill was technically the driver’s fault.

More: A $2 Water Bottle Just Cost This Hyundai Driver Nearly $12,000

As of the Reddit post, the driver was still waiting to find out whether his insurance would step in to cover the costs. You’d think the answer would be yes, but that’s not always how these things always play out.

Just last month, we reported on a similar incident involving a Hyundai Ioniq 5. A small water spill in the rear footwell damaged the car’s wiring, and neither the manufacturer nor the insurance company was willing to cover the $11,882 repair bill.

Source: Reddit

It’s hard to argue that owning a vehicle with 1,070 horsepower (797 kW) wouldn’t be extremely fun. However, that excitement turns on its head when you realize that there’s nowhere to refuel, or rather in this case, recharge it.

That’s exactly what just happened to a Brooklyn-based Lucid Gravity Dream Edition buyer. After snatching this unique EV up brand new in September of 2025, he ended up selling it just 400 miles later for a huge loss.

More: Lucid’s Cheaper Gravity Lost Hundreds Of Horses But Found You Thousands In Savings

The seller on Cars & Bids shared a photo of the window sticker for this luxury SUV, listing an MSRP of $141,550. When the hammer fell on his auction sale of the car, it brought just $123,000. That’s a painful $18,500 lesson for 400 miles of usage in a little over a month, amounting to $46.25 for every mile he put on the odometer.

Where Do You Plug In?

Why take such a big loss for a vehicle that the owner says is “an awesome car”? It all comes down to charging it up. For the owner, it was almost like buying a Hellcat and then realizing that the closest gas station is 220 miles away.

Cars&Bids

He says that his initial plan was to charge where he works but then one option after another fell apart until he had to take the loss we’re talking about here.

“I was planning to charge at work but the chargers at my work aren’t working and there is seemingly no plan to fix them. Since I don’t have a charger at home and can’t get one installed this became an unsolvable,” he said in response to a question about the situation.

He then went on to fault his living location, New York, more than anything else.

“I tried to find another solution but in NYC most chargers (all the ones convenient to me) were in parking garages where you had to pay exuberant [sic] prices to park in order to use the chargers. I live a busy life so just couldn’t find a workable solution,” he added.

It’s a little ironic that in a city as vast and densely packed as New York, famous for both its wealth and its gridlock, a high-end EV can still be this impractical. For now, he’s out, but he hasn’t sworn off electric power entirely. According to him, he’ll be back behind the wheel of another EV “as soon as [a solution] presents itself.”

Source: Cars&Bids

The Lucid Gravity is a finalist for 2026 North American Utility Vehicle of the Year and their case is getting stronger with the introduction of a new Touring trim. It was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show and is currently available to order.

Designed to slot beneath the range-topping Gravity Grand Touring, the latest variant is instantly recognizable and features a familiar design. Few details were released, but it sports LED lighting units, a glass roof, and flush-mounted door handles. They’re joined by 20-inch wheels, acoustic front glass, and a power liftgate and frunk.

More: Meet The Finalists For North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle Of The Year

The five-seat interior sports PurLuxe upholstery as well as heated front chairs with 12-way power adjustment. Buyers will also find a 34-inch curved display as well as a lower 12.6-inch touchscreen.

Elsewhere, there’s a wireless smartphone charger, a ten-speaker audio system, and a four-zone climate control system. Other highlights include an ambient lighting system and an auto-dimming rearview mirror.

An assortment of options will be available including leather, a third-row, and a 22-speaker premium audio system with Dolby Atmos technology. Customers can also get a heated steering wheel as well as heated, ventilated, and massaging front seats.

Tech That Watches Your Back

The crossover comes standard with an air suspension as well as the DreamDrive 2 suite of driver assistance systems. It includes Adaptive Cruise Control, Automatic Emergency Braking, and Drive Assist (Lane Centering).

There’s also Lane Departure Protection, Front & Rear Cross Traffic Protection, and Blind Spot Monitoring with Active Intervention. Rounding out the highlights are Speed Limit Assist, Traffic Sign Recognition, Safe Exit Warning, and High Beam Assist.

While that’s a pretty comprehensive list, buyers can upgrade to DreamDrive 2 Premium or DreamDrive 2 Pro. The latter allows for hands-free driving as well as remote automatic parking.

Performance and Range

Power is provided by an 89 kWh battery pack that feeds a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system developing up to 560 hp (418 kW / 568 PS). That’s 268 hp (200 kW / 272 PS) less than the Grand Touring, but the crossover can hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in four seconds flat.

The Touring has an EPA-estimated range of up to 337 miles (542 km), which trails the Grand Touring by 113 miles (182 km). That’s a pretty significant difference, but the 300 kW DC fast charging capability enables the crossover to get 200 miles (322 km) of range in as little as 15 minutes.

If you want to take advantage of the native NACS port and use a Tesla Supercharger, you’ll be limited to 220 kW. That’s a bit of a bummer, but it’s still relatively speedy.

What Will It Cost You?

Pricing starts at $79,900 before a $1,650 destination fee. This makes it significantly cheaper than the Gravity Grand Touring, which begins at $94,900.

In Canada, pricing starts at $113,500 and this includes a $2,300 destination fee, a $200 documentation fee, and a $100 federal air conditioning tax.

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.