Tested! The Lucid Air Sapphire Just Set a New 0–60-MPH Record!

The Lucid Air Sapphire now has godlike grip to go with its hellfire 1,234 horsepower. Armed with Lucid’s new Track Tire package, the three-motor EV leapfrogged to the top of MotorTrend’s all-time 0–60-mph leaderboard with a 1.881-second blitz.

The Track Tire package is a simple dealer-installed upgrade: four Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS Elect LM1 tires mounted on a set of the Sapphire’s forged wheels for a princely $8,250 plus installation on top of the Sapphire’s already precious $250,500 buy-in. At least there’s a clear benefit to be had. The Sapphire previously knocked out a 2.2-second 60-mph sprint on its factory Michelin Pilot Sport 4S LM1 tires. As with all standardized MotorTrend testing, our times were achieved without the benefit of a sticky dragstrip slathered in traction compound. The 1.881-second run is simply the product of gooey rubber pressing into common cement with enough bite to turn 1,430 lb-ft of torque into near-instantaneous speed. Thanks to the track tires, we can now say the Sapphire lives up to Lucid’s claim of a sub-two-second 0–60 time, provided you splurge on the grippy shoes. We can’t say the same thing about the Tesla Model S Plaid.

The Sapphire’s other big rival, the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT Weissach, is the reason we’re reporting the time to three decimals. Our previous 0–60 record holder—with four doors, two seats, and 1,019 horsepower—now sits in second place just 0.006 second behind the Lucid.

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Gapping the Competition

Heading into this test of the Trofeo RS tires, the Lucid Air Sapphire already owned the MotorTrend quarter-mile record with a 9.21-second dash at 157.1 mph—just 0.02 second ahead of the Taycan. On the Pirellis, the Sapphire beat its own record and opened the gap with a 9.03-second run. Interestingly, the Lucid on stock Michelins pulled harder at the top end, and the Trofeo-shod car crossed the line with a lower 154.8-mph trap speed.

On either tire, the Sapphire shoots off the line with the immediacy of a Titleist smacked by a Big Bertha. One moment, the world is still and silent. The next instant, you’re streaking across the earth with atomic acceleration. In an era where quickness has been commoditized, the Sapphire still has what it takes to scare you. The launch squeezes your ribcage like a bench press gone wrong, and the speed quickly blurs your ability to eyeball distance. You hit triple digits less than four seconds into the run, which leaves your brain recycling the thought: Surely, we’ve covered 1,320 feet by now.

Getting a Grip on 1,234 HP

The track-tire grip isn’t just good for harder launches, of course. Stand on the Sapphire’s short and firm brake pedal, and the 5,342-pound electric sedan ratchets to a stop in 93 feet. That’s a 10-foot improvement over the Sapphire on Michelin tires and a tie with the Taycan Turbo GT Weissach for the best-stopping EV we’ve ever tested.

The Porsche also runs P Zero Trofeo RS Elect tires, and paired with a 431-pound advantage, they give the Porsche an edge in cornering. The Weissach lapped our figure-eight course in 21.9 seconds, pulling 1.15 g’s worth of lateral grip in the process.

The Sapphire on Trofeos chased the Porche with a 22.3-second lap and 1.11 g of cornering grip. That marks improvements of 0.3 second and 0.06 g relative to the factory Michelins. More important, the Pirelli track tires leave the Sapphire’s graceful chassis balance wholly intact. The big, heavy EV points into corners with confidence-inspiring stability and then dances around the limits of the tires in steady-state cornering. Whether you lift the throttle or squeeze it deeper, the rear tires unhook before the fronts, making the Sapphire wonderfully playful for a car built around such serious engineering. We ran the fast lap with stability control in its Track setting. Turning ESC fully off allows bigger and more dramatic drifts without becoming unruly. When it’s time to point the wheel straight and mash the accelerator, the rear readily falls in line and rockets the Sapphire toward the horizon.

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Turning Off the Intensity

Perhaps the craziest thing about the Sapphire is that all this performance, this agility, this intensity exists within the package of a large, four-door luxury sedan. If you wanted to match (or come close to) these numbers in a gas car, you’d be driving a loud, stiff, and impractical supercar. The Sapphire slips through city streets with the comfort of a Mercedes E-Class and the anonymity of a Honda Accord.

This duality isn’t a high-tech trick. The Sapphire rides on steel springs and run-of-the-mill adaptive dampers just like lesser Airs, and while you can switch between four modes—Smooth, Swift, Sapphire, and Track—you mostly change the car’s attitude just by changing how you drive the car. Huck it into a tight corner, and you’ll find a beautifully balanced sport sedan. Stand on the accelerator, and it’s a credible drag racer. Cruise down the highway, and it’s a sublime luxury car. Grip, acceleration, and poise are baked into the hardware of every Sapphire, but if the lofty baseline isn’t enough, the Track Tire package allows owners to bolt on even more.