Car Wearing: Lucid preps the most powerful version of the Air sedan

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Lucid Air Sapphire Targets Tesla Model S Plaid

Eager to try to upstage the competition, Lucid Motors revealed just a few days ago that it will produce yet another performance version of the Air sedan that will eclipse all the other variants, offering nothing short of 1200 hp and 0-to-60-mph launches in under two seconds thanks to a tri-motor layout.
To underscore just how exclusive this upcoming version of the Air will be, Lucid Motors gave it its own brand name, with the Sapphire intended to signal the highest performance level in Lucid's lineup.
"With three state-of-the-art electric motors – all developed and manufactured in-house by Lucid – Lucid Air Sapphire reaches an entirely new level of performance," said Eric Bach, SVP of Product and Chief Engineer, Lucid Group. "And because a three-motor Lucid Air was always part of the development program, it retains all the strengths of Lucid Air variants already on the market – including limo-like rear legroom, a voluminous trunk and frunk, and impressive efficiency."
As you may have guessed by now, even the exterior color will be unique to this model, with the sedan wearing Sapphire Blue paint. But it won't be the only way to tell this version of the Lucid Air apart from others on the road.
Read on to find out the details, as well as the price.

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Do California's Zero Emission by 2035 Rules Go Far Enough?

Two years ago California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that sought to phase out the sale of gas- and diesel-engined cars by 2035. The order itself was quite controversial, and as many noted at the time executive action absent any agency rulemaking was closer to a policy statement than something more concrete, like legislation.
That agency rulemaking was revealed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) this week, reconfirming the 2035 goal and also setting some very ambitious interim targets for the state's share of zero emission vehicle sales, including the requirement that EVs and PHEVs represent 35% of the sales mix by 2026, which is not even four years away at this point.
Dubbed Advanced Clean Cars II, the regulations aim to cement the 2035 goal.
"First and foremost, by increasing the number of ZEVs on the road and continuing to clean up conventional internal combustion vehicles, the regulatory proposals will reduce exposure to vehicle pollution in communities throughout California, including in frontline communities that are disproportionately exposed to vehicular pollution," the California Air Resources Board said in a statement.
Are these goals unrealistic in the time span contemplated, or are they instead very incremental, neglecting to mandate stricter emissions standards for all the internal combustion cars and trucks between now and 2035?
We spoke to several experts to get their opinion on the regulations, which are sure to spark no shortage of debate in the coming months and years.

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President Is Eager to Drive the Electric Chevy Corvette

e-Ray

Whatever your politics, you cannot deny that President Biden is a committed car guy.
First there was The Onion satire in 2009, about then-Vice President Biden stripping off his T-shirt to wash his bird-stickered 1981 Pontiac Trans Am, while wearing cut-off shorts, in the White House driveway. Throw in frequent references to his father's job as a car salesman and to his real driveway treasure, a Goodwood green 1967 Chevy Corvette convertible.
After Biden won the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, he famously broke embargo on GM's plans for an all-electric, 200-mph version of the new Chevy C8 Corvette.
More recently, before his speech following his signing of the $280-billion CHIP Act written to attract computer-chip manufacturing to the US, he spoke into the podium mic enthused about the Inflation Reduction Act just passed in the Senate that includes incentives for North American EV production.

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