Lucid Motors will open its Belgian test-drive center on June 2, EV has learned, giving a firm date to an entry the company had previously described only as planned for “this summer.”
The center sits on the Leuvensesteenweg in Zaventem, on the outskirts of Brussels, and will let visitors experience the Lucid Air sedan and the Gravity SUV, according to a company promotional notice.
The opening marks Belgium as the next step in a European expansion that Lucid is racing to scale this year, even as demand for its debut model has been soft across the markets it already serves.
From “Summer” to a Hard Date
European President Lawrence Hamilton first confirmed the Belgian entry in early February, calling the country “one of Europe’s most advanced EV markets.”
“This summer, we will officially enter the Belgian market, marking the next step in our regional expansion,” Hamilton wrote on LinkedIn at the time.
“And Belgium is just the beginning,” he added, without detailing changes planned for existing markets such as Germany.
The June 2 opening firms up that timeline, landing at the start of the summer window the company had signaled.
Lucid hosted a media roundtable in Brussels ahead of February’s announcement and partnered with Antwerp-born DJ Matthias Geerts for a promotional video featuring three vehicles in the colors of the Belgian flag.
Flanders Investment & Trade, the agency that facilitates American investment in the Flemish region, separately confirmed that Lucid would open its first Belgian location this year.
The Belgian plan has been long in the making.
EV first reported in December 2024 that Lucid was preparing to enter Belgium and move away from relying solely on its direct-to-consumer model, and Hamilton confirmed the plan at the Brussels Motor Show in January 2025.
The entry was then delayed by a year before the June 2 date set it in motion.
Belgium becomes Lucid‘s fifth European market, joining company-owned operations in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.
Seven or Eight New Markets This Year
The Belgian launch is one piece of an aggressive 2026 plan.
Interim Chief Executive Officer Marc Winterhoff said last week that Lucid remains on track to enter “seven or eight” new European markets this year, answering a question from EV at the Financial Times Future of the Car summit in London.
“That’s still the plan,” Winterhoff said when asked about the previously stated target of expanding from four to 12 European markets. “I think the number is still around seven or eight this year.”
It was his first public commentary since the first-quarter earnings call.
Beyond Belgium, Lucid has identified France, Denmark and other Western European countries for 2026 entry, and Winterhoff said on the fourth-quarter call that the company was in advanced talks with more than 10 dealer groups and importer candidates.
A New Distribution Model
Belgium also reflects a structural shift in how Lucid sells in Europe, moving from purely company-owned showrooms toward a hybrid model that adds local partners.
Winterhoff recalled last week that the company’s first agent partner has formally launched.
“We’ve just — by the way — launched our first agent partner,” he said. “It actually takes time to move from a direct to consumer model to an indirect model.”
That partner is Wackenhut, the family-owned retail group based in Nagold, Baden-Württemberg, which began selling and servicing Lucid vehicles at its Baden-Baden facility on March 30.
EV exclusively reported the Wackenhut deal in February.
A second Wackenhut location, in Stuttgart, is set to launch this summer.
Winterhoff said partner selection is built around service capacity rather than sales.
“Expecting actually four times more service capacity than sales capacity,” he said. “Since that is a very important topic.”
The four-to-one ratio points to Lucid‘s priority of building after-sales support before chasing volume, in a region where its service footprint is still concentrated around its four showroom cities.
The UK Slips to 2028
Even as continental expansion accelerates, Lucid pushed its United Kingdom launch back again.
Hamilton told The Independent that British buyers should now expect the brand in early 2028, the third delay to its UK plans.
“It’s more likely to be the beginning of 2028 rather than 2027,” he said.
Winterhoff had told Auto Express last September that Lucid would enter the UK in late 2026, before Hamilton shifted the target to 2027 in April.
Hamilton framed the latest delay as sequencing rather than retreat.
“In 2027, we’re going to focus on the markets that we’re already in,” he said, adding that the company does not want to “bite off more than we can chew.”
The UK will debut not with the Air or Gravity but with the Cosmos, the first model on Lucid‘s new mid-size platform, which the company says will start below $50,000 in the United States.
Unlike its continental markets, the UK will use traditional dealer partnerships from the outset.
A Flagship Closure in Oslo
The starkest sign of that weakness is in Norway, where Lucid is shutting its flagship downtown showroom on Karl Johans gate, Oslo’s main thoroughfare.
The showroom closed on May 14, three years after opening in spring 2023, according to local outlet BilNytt.
All Norwegian sales, service and delivery activity moves to the company’s existing center in Rud, in the western suburb of Bærum, which became fully operational for customers from May 18.
Lucid said it plans to expand the Rud site with a new showroom expected to open in the fourth quarter, and stressed that Norway remains a strategically important market.
The registration figures explain the retreat.
Lucid registered zero vehicles in Norway in April and has sold just one this year, an Air registered in January to Lucid Norway itself, according to OFV data cited by the outlet.
Only 31 new Lucids have been registered in Norway since the brand entered the market, and 17 of those went to the importer rather than to customers.
The numbers are striking against Norway’s adoption rate.
The country led the world in battery-electric penetration in 2025 at 95% of new sales, a share that reached 98.6% last month.
The entry-level Air Pure starts at 950,000 kroner ($92,400) and the Gravity Touring at 1,049,000 kroner ($102,000), placing both in the premium tier of a market where European and Chinese competition has intensified.
Lucid is not alone in leaving central Oslo.
XPeng closed its Bjørvika showroom in October 2025, Polestar left Øvre Slottsgate in February 2025, and Lotus exited Nedre Slottsgate in April 2025.
Nio House on Karl Johans gate is one of only two downtown showrooms still standing, though BilNytt reported the brand has been trying to exit its costly lease.
Other Headwinds
The company is set to consolidate Norway just as it pushes into new markets, a contrast that underscores the demand challenge.
Lucid delivered its first Gravity in Germany in late February, followed last week by a high-profile handover to Austrian-born celebrity chef Johann Lafer through Wackenhut.
The financial backdrop is heavy.
Lucid reported a first-quarter gross margin of negative 110.4% and a net loss of $1.03 billion, and suspended its full-year guidance pending a strategic review by incoming permanent CEO Silvio Napoli.
Napoli’s employment began April 15, but he will assume the CEO title only after completing US visa and work authorization and relocating from Switzerland to California. Winterhoff will then return to his former chief operating officer role.
