Lucid said on Monday that orders in France are “expected to open in the first quarter of 2027” and that it will open its first three retail and service locations there in the first quarter of 2027.
Orders are expected to open in the same quarter as the three sites, which are run with partner Emil Frey France and are in late-stage planning, Lucid said in a statement on Monday.
French customers can place a reservation on Lucid’s website now to get priority when ordering opens, the company said.
The first three sites are “the beginning of a planned network of more than 16 partner locations by the end of 2027,” according to the statement.
The company made the announcement at the Paris Motor Show, where it is exhibiting for the first time, with the Air sedan and the Gravity SUV.
“France is an important market for Lucid,” said Lawrence Hamilton, President of Europe at Lucid. “With Emil Frey France, we are establishing a customer-focused presence that will deliver the sales, service, and ownership experience our vehicles and customers deserve.”
Lucid did not name the cities for the first three locations or give a delivery date.
The Partner
Lucid announced its French entry on September 3, naming the import division of Emil Frey France as its operational partner and France as its sixth European market.
“France is one of Europe’s most important automotive markets and represents a key pillar of Lucid’s expansion strategy,” Hamilton said at the time.
Under the arrangement, Lucid keeps its own import organization and remains responsible for its brand, commercial strategy and customer experience, while Emil Frey provides operational services.
The companies have not detailed which tasks Emil Frey will carry out or set any sales or volume target.
Emil Frey France is the official importer of Mitsubishi and Subaru in France.
It sold more than 193,170 new and used vehicles in 2025, with consolidated revenue of €4.7 billion ($5.2 billion) and more than 10,000 employees, according to the September release.
The import division is run by Pierre Guignot, its General Manager, who took the role in 2024 after leading the Honda brand in France.
In September, he described Emil Frey’s role as “one of a bespoke service partner, providing flexible operational services tailored to Lucid’s specific requirements.”
The Swiss-based, family-owned Emil Frey group also works with Chinese brands, and signed this month as XPeng‘s sales and service partner in Germany, after running its network in the Netherlands since 2022.
French Prices
Lucid published French prices for its two models in late September, ahead of the Paris press conference.
The Air starts at €86,900 ($97,000) for the Pure version, with a WLTP range of up to 831 kilometers, and rises to €252,900 ($282,200) for the 1,251-horsepower Air Sapphire.
The Air Grand Touring, priced at €131,900 ($147,200), has the longest range in the lineup at up to 960 kilometers.
The seven-seat Gravity starts at €95,900 ($107,000) for the Touring and reaches €148,900 ($166,100) for the Grand Touring Ultimate.
In Germany, Lucid cut the Gravity’s entry price to €94,900 ($105,900) from €99,900 on August 19 and added two trims.
A Smaller Wave
France was first named as a 2026 market in September 2025, when then-interim Chief Executive Officer Marc Winterhoff said Lucid planned to open in eight additional European markets in 2026.
“In total, next year our plans are to open in eight additional markets,” Winterhoff said at the time, which would have taken Lucid to 12 countries.
Hamilton had told Marca in June 2025 that the priority over the following 18 months was to establish a presence in Europe’s five largest markets, including France.
A month after Winterhoff’s remarks, Lucid began hiring software engineers in Toulouse, where its French subsidiary, Lucid Motors S.A.S. France, is registered.
The rollout has since narrowed.
EV exclusively reported in June that Lucid had delayed its entries into Spain and Austria to 2027. Lucid has not publicly confirmed the report.
Hamilton said in May that the UK launch had moved to early 2028, and that Lucid would focus on its existing markets in 2027 and did not want to overextend.
If Lucid launches in a market, it should do so properly, he said.
Belgium, where Lucid opened a test-drive center on June 2, is so far the only new European market to open this year.
Dealers, Not Studios
The French model breaks with how Lucid first entered Europe.
In Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Norway, Lucid sold directly through company-owned studios, and it closed its Oslo flagship in May.
Hamilton told Automotive News in December that new market entries would rely on local dealer partners.
Lucid signed Mercedes-Benz dealer group Wackenhut as its first European retail partner, with sales starting at Baden-Baden in March.
It named Munsterhuis Autobedrijven as its first Dutch retail partner in August, and on October 6 added Autohaus Possögel in Naumburg as a service-only partner in eastern Germany from December.
The Numbers So Far
Lucid’s European volumes remain small.
The company registered 319 vehicles in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Norway in 2025, down 32.1% from 470 in 2024.
Lucid registered 40 vehicles across its five European markets in September, its second-highest month of 2026 after June, bringing the nine-month total to 256 from 255 a year earlier.
Third-quarter registrations fell 30.5% to 82, equivalent to about 2% of the 3,806 vehicles Lucid delivered worldwide in the quarter, though registrations and deliveries are not directly comparable.
In Germany, its largest European market, Lucid registered 166 vehicles in the first nine months of 2026, up 17.7% from a year earlier, according to Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) data, or 65% of its European total.
The KBA figures are new registrations, not retail sales, and include test-drive, showroom and press vehicles without a split between private, fleet and demonstrator cars.
In the Netherlands and Norway, Lucid registered six vehicles combined in September, all Gravity SUVs.
In Belgium, Lucid registered three vehicles in September and 10 in the first nine months, according to the Belgian automotive federation FEBIAC.
