The new 1,070-HP Lucid Gravity GT-S has seven seats and supercar pace

I love the Monterey Car Week - it has always been a theatre of excess. A sun-drenched coastal sanctuary where collectors talk about bespoke leather stitching over chilled glasses of champagne. But watching Lucid roll out a three-row family hauler packing 1,070 horsepower right into the middle of Pebble Beach's Concours Village felt like a cheeky jab to the jaw of traditional supercar orthodoxy.

The latest addition to the Lucid Gravity lineup is badged the GT-S, a name that suggests a measured restraint of a German executive express. But what we have here is something far more unhinged: a seven-seat shuttle capable of going head-to-head with thoroughbred exotics while keeping the kids and in-laws entertained in the back seats.

It is true - the savage straight-line acceleration has become the modern EV party trick, but the GT-S takes it to the next level. By letting loose 1,070 ponies through a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system, this 5,952 lb monolith of an SUV blazes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds.

When you put your right foot through the floor, you are launching seven full-grown adults with the exact same violent thrust as a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, a BMW M3 CS, or the Ferrari Amalfi. With Tesla retiring the three-motor Model X Plaid, Lucid has stepped into the ring to claim the undisputed crown of the planet's quickest school-bus substitute. As long as we ignore China, of course.

Strip away the fresh badge, and keen observers will spot what is actually happening. The GT-S is not an entirely new ground-up skunkworks project - it is a clever repackaging of the outgoing Dream Edition. Think of it as a "Sapphire-lite" - a visual and philosophical nod to the 1,234-horsepower Lucid Air Sapphire saloon, but wrapped in a friendlier dual-motor format.

You get the signature Monterey blue painted brake calipers, matching blue contrast stitching across the steering wheel and armrests, and Lucid's California grizzly bear logo cleanly embossed into the front headrests. It gives the range-topping Gravity an athletic personality.

Naturally, anyone with a grasp of physics will ask the obvious question: how on earth does a vehicle weighing over 3 metric tons when loaded, manage a set of tight canyon switchbacks? Lucid's answer is its standard Dynamic Handling package. We get independent rear-wheel steering with an adaptive three-chamber air suspension that automatically lowers at speed to slice through the air, and the chassis actively fights both roll and inertia.

On the skidpad, its mechanical predecessor pulled a genuine 0.90 g - a figure that ought to surprise dedicated sports car manufacturers. Sure, the new GT-S will never dance like a featherweight roadster - nothing weighing {{2.7 tonnes}} ever could. But at least it promises to carve through corners with a composure that defies its size.

Measuring 198.2 inches from bumper to bumper and 78.7 inches across the hips, the Lucid is only marginally longer than the Kia EV9 GT (which registers at 197.2 inches), yet sits a lot lower, wider, and sleeker. The Korean contender delivers a very respectable performance as a seven-seater, but its 501-horsepower output and 4.5-second sprint suddenly look almost pedestrian by comparison. The boxy Rivian R1S looms over the class at 200.8 inches in length, and a 7,068 lb curb weight, opting for rugged, upright trail-bashing bravado where the Lucid focuses on aerodynamic efficiency and tire-shredding precision.

But Lucid offers a surprisingly rare twist in modern car pricing. The outgoing Dream Edition demanded an eye-watering $141,550 admission ticket, and the new Gravity GT-S arrives with an entry sticker of $125,900, which settles at $127,750 once you tack on the mandatory $1,850 destination fee.

In an industry where luxury manufacturers routinely jack up prices just because another calendar year has ticked over, shaving nearly 14 grand off the window sticker for a 1,070-horsepower flagship deserves applause. Mind you, the classic bespoke luxury cheek is still alive on the options sheet: you will happily be parted from an extra $1,300 if you want the upgraded Tahoe leather over the standard PurLuxe synthetic upholstery.

That pricing speaks volumes about Lucid's game plan. The American manufacturer, backed by substantial Saudi investment, has already proven that its electric motor power density and battery management are the gold standard of the industry. But engineering brilliance must translate into volume. The Air saloon proved what Lucid could build at the bleeding edge, and the Gravity must now capture the lucrative family SUV market.

Yet for global buyers outside the United States, there is an issue: the GT-S is strictly a left-hand-drive American exclusive. Small batches of left-hand-drive cars make their way across Europe, but right-hand-drive markets like the UK are being bypassed entirely for the brand's large vehicles, leaving British enthusiasts waiting for the smaller, higher-volume Cosmos crossover due in 2027.

Is a 1,070-horsepower, three-row luxury SUV excessive? Of course it is. Nobody genuinely needs to hurtle seven occupants toward the horizon at the pace of a mid-engine exotic, surrounded by whisper-quiet glass and blue-accented leather.

But automotive enthusiasm has never been about necessity - it lives on ambition and mechanical excess. Replacing the Dream Edition with the sharper, cheaper, and more cohesive GT-S was a shrewd move - Lucid built the undisputed king of the school run, and in the process proved that family transport can still leave you grinning from ear to ear.

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