Lucid Motors reveals Arizona factory paint shop; targets 400,000 units per year across four models
Lucid’s Arizona factory to produce high-end paint finishes, starting with 30,000 Lucid AIR Sedans per year
On the back of news that Tesla Motors has begun construction on what may be the world’s most advanced automotive paint shop, Lucid Motors has released details on its own paint shop currently under construction in its AMP-1 factory, located in Casa Grande, Arizona.
Lucid Motors’ competitor Tesla has been criticised in the past for many poor (and downright ghastly) paint jobs over the years. Recently however, Sandy Munro was thoroughly impressed with the exterior paint on a brand new 2021 Model—anecdotal evidence of course—which implies things may be improving in Tesla’s paint shop and its QA checks.
For many, Porsche has always been held up as among the best in the business when it comes to high-grade exterior finishes, and Lucid is clearly watching the big German manufacturers and Tesla closely to ensure its vehicles’ paint matches the company’s luxury image.
A Lucid Air after what appears to be the pretreatment and sealer phases of the painting process.
According to Mike Boike, Director of Manufacturing, “We're competing against the best in the world, and we know it.” he added. “So the processes and the materials that we use are nothing but the best in the world. We've got the latest and greatest paint process. We have the latest and greatest materials, and we have a high-powered team of engineers and manufacturing professionals.”
Lucid’s paint shop process involves the following steps:
Pretreatment and Electrocoat: As each Lucid Air comes out of the body shop, it gets rigorously cleaned. Then we apply both a thin film coating and electrodeposition coating, which protect the entire body structure from corrosion.
Sealer: Next we thoroughly seal the vehicle to prevent any type of air or water intrusion that could create road noise or water leakage into the car.
Paint: Once the unit is sealed and sanded, it’s then sent into the paint booth. Here, we’ve integrated the latest innovative process and materials technologies that result in a flawless, luxurious finish.
Finesse: Finally, post-bake, the car is brought to the finesse deck where a team inspects and polishes it to perfection before approving to ship to the customer.
Lucid’s automated painting process
Lucid plans to commence building the Air sedan in 2021, and is aiming for 30,000 vehicles in its first full year of production. According to the company, it’s more economical to build the paint shop based on the eventual full capacity of the plant, which is 400,000 units per year.
Lucid’s second model line, a luxury SUV codenamed “Project Gravity”
Lucid’s second vehicle will be a luxury SUV currently codenamed Project Gravity, which will arrive in 2023.
Source: Lucid Motors