Car Wearing: Lucid Air is finally on the way to challenge the Model S

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This week Ford begins testing the E-Transit in real business fleets, Waymo brings I-Pace robotaxis to San Francisco, and Opel shows off its version of the Ami. But first:

Electric Dodge Muscle Car Will Arrive in 2024, Concept Next Year.

We've now known for a few weeks that an electric muscle car from Dodge is on the way, but it was only a couple of days ago that Dodge clarified its plans for an electric future, or what it calls eMuscle. Automotive News reported this week that a concept car was on the way in 2022, one that will preview a 2024 production version.
Earlier this summer Dodge dropped a few hints about what we could see, complete with the Fratzog logo. A seemingly retro-styled coupe or sedan was foreshadowed during Stellantis' EV day a few weeks ago, performing a (computer-generated) burnout with all four tires. It seems like a rather natural move to kick off eMuscle with a Challenger-style crowd-pleaser, but the model could yet turn out to be a sedan, with Dodge keeping mum on the details until we see a concept car next year.

Dodge brings back the Fratzog logo, but does this teaser preview a large coupe or a sedan?

Or perhaps it could be a sedan and coupe duo, now that EV platforms are easy to adapt for different body styles. After all, it would be risky for Dodge to stake so many sales and development dollars on a single body style.
The model could use the STLA Large platform offering a range of up to 500 miles, based on what Dodge had sketched earlier this summer during its EV day.
But it remains to be seen just how quickly Dodge and other Stellantis brands will be able to assemble a lineup varied enough to challenge Tesla over the next five years. And it will still take a while for the bulk of Stellantis' models to get here, as other automakers race to field EVs of their own in multiple segments.

Lucid Taunts Tesla Again with More 'Estimates' for Range and HP

The Lucid Air is promised before the end of the year, but will Lucid ever be able to catch up to Tesla?

Speaking of aspiring Tesla competitors, just about a decade after its debut the Tesla Model S is expected to see a worthy challenger or four later this year. There are several electric luxury sedans on the way, but only one of them has been seemingly on the verge of a market debut for years.
The Lucid Air is still projected to see its first deliveries later this year, according to the company. The first two versions of the electric luxury sedan Lucid still plans to deliver in that timeframe are the Dream Edition Performance and the Dream Edition Range, with the former promising a heady 1,111 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque along with 475 miles of range on a single charge. The latter promises to stretch its range to over 500 miles at the expense of some horsepower, but still plans to offer 933 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque.
Lucid's sedan won't be cheap: Current reservation holders will have to find $169,000 under the couch cushions pretty soon for either version of the sedan.
We'll have to wait and see whether Lucid will stick to its delivery plans as we're now deep in the second half of 2021, lest we forget, but yet another challenger is about to enter the field as well with a much larger dealership network, among other things. First deliveries of the Mercedes-Benz EQS are just around the corner, with a six-figure price tag of its own.

2022 Ford E-Transit Begins Testing in Fleets Ahead of Launch

Ford has kicked off real-world testing of the upcoming E-Transit lineup of electric vans and trucks, with the first examples being distributed to fleets this week. The automaker is putting 10 prototypes in the hands of several major utility, postal, and municipal fleet operators in the UK, Germany and Norway, with prototypes joining the vehicles used by the city of Cologne, AWB waste disposal, DHL Express and other businesses. Here's what these vans promise.

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Waymo to Test Jaguar I-Pace Robotaxi Tech in San Francisco

Autonomous tech developer Waymo has started offering San Francisco residents rides in autonomous Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs, with a safety driver behind the wheel. Dubbed the Waymo One Trusted Tester program, those who have the Waymo One app will be able to hail an autonomous I-Pace featuring the fifth-generation Waymo Driver system, which is considered to be SAE Level 4 and that will take them anywhere in what the company calls its "initial service area," which signals a limited, geofenced area for now. But it's definitely a step toward robotaxis.

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