Lucid Motors said during its first-ever investor day on Thursday to claim the Gravity SUV is outpacing the Rivian R1S in early sales momentum — a direct shot at its closest American rival in the electric luxury SUV segment.
Interim chief executive Marc Winterhoff presented S&P Mobility data showing the Gravity registered approximately 2,900 US units in its third full quarter on the market, compared with roughly 2,800 for the R1S at the same stage following its own launch.
Only the Tesla Model X, at around 3,800 units, performed better by the same measure.
“Off to a good start here, and we obviously want to build on this,” Winterhoff said.
He said that the Model X launched in a period with virtually no electric SUV competition, making the comparison less direct.
Sales Comparison
Rather than comparing calendar-year totals — where the R1S, now a mature product, sold 24,852 US units in 2025 according to Cox Automotive — Lucid measured each model’s trajectory at the same point in its commercial life.
The figures presented reflect sales reflect each model’s third full quarter following its first meaningful sales quarter of more than 25 units.
The data was sourced from S&P Mobility and compares launch-phase demand.
By that metric, the Gravity also topped the Cadillac Vistiq (~2,200), BMW iX (~2,000), Cadillac Escalade IQ (~1,800), Polestar 3 (~1,500), and Volvo EX90 (~1,000).
Still, the competitive landscape the R1S entered was markedly different from the one the Gravity faces today.
Rivian began delivering the R1S in mid-2022, when its primary electric SUV competitors were the Model X and the BMW iX.
The Gravity arrived in a segment that now includes the Vistiq, Escalade IQ, Polestar 3, and EX90 — meaning Lucid is competing for a larger but more fragmented pool of buyers.
The comparison also carries a pricing dimension.
The Gravity Grand Touring starts at $94,900, while the Touring variant begins at $79,900.
The Rivian R1S currently starts at $76,990 for the Dual Motor variant.
The Model X Factor
The only vehicle that outperformed the Gravity on Winterhoff’s chart — the Tesla Model X — will not be around much longer to defend its position.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in late January that production of both the Model S and Model X will end by the close of the second quarter, with the Fremont production lines converted to manufacture the Optimus humanoid robot.
Lucid has moved to position itself as the successor.
Late last month, the company launched a targeted email campaign comparing the Gravity Grand Touring against an unnamed ‘Leading EV Manufacturer’s Full Size SUV’.
The indirect reference to the Model X came 48 hours after Winterhoff told investors during the Q4 earnings call that Lucid is ‘the natural successor’ of the Model S and Model X.
The comparison highlighted advantages across range (450 miles vs 352), horsepower (828 vs 670), peak charging speed (400 kW vs 250 kW), and price ($94,900 vs $99,990 for the 2026 Model X AWD).
Winterhoff said the company was “seeing an uptake in customer inquiries from Model S and Model X owners” and was “working right now on plans on how to further accelerate that.”
First Semi-Official Model Split
The investor day slides also represented the most detailed model-level sales data Lucid has ever presented publicly.
The company reports only total global quarterly deliveries in its earnings releases — 15,841 vehicles in 2025, up 55% from 10,241 in 2024 — and does not break out units by model or geography.
A separate chart showed the Lucid Air sedan at approximately 9,500 US units in 2025, ranking it third among all luxury sedans in the country behind the BMW 5-Series (~21,100) and Mercedes-Benz E-Class (~16,000).
The model ranked ahead of the BMW 7-Series (~8,300), Mercedes S-Class (~7,300), Tesla Model S (~7,200), and BMW i5 (~6,000).
The comparison spans both electric and internal combustion vehicles.
“We’re not only number one in the segment on the EV side, but in the whole segment, including all internal combustion engine vehicles, we are number three,” Winterhoff said.
The ~9,500 Air figure is broadly consistent with third-party estimates from Motor Intelligence and Cox Automotive, which EV has tracked monthly.
Production Outlook
Lucid guided for 25,000 to 27,000 vehicles produced in 2026, a 51% jumped from last year’s output.
Winterhoff said earlier this week at the Cantor Fitzgerald conference that the Gravity would account for the “vast majority” of output, with Air sales expected to stay flat.
The midsize SUV programme, previewed at Thursday’s event, is expected to enter production in late 2026 but is not expected to contribute meaningfully to this year’s volumes.
Rivian, for its part, produced 42,284 vehicles and delivered 42,247 in 2025.
Both EV makers are betting that a more affordable model will unlock the volume their premium lineups have not yet delivered.
As of press time, Lucid shares were trading 0.5% lower on Thursday’s pre-market session at $10.63.
