Autopia is an extension of TheWeeklyDriver.com, the website I started in 2004. It features automotive news, car reviews, commentary, a weekly podcast, newsletter and coverage of automotive events. It has several contributors, writers and photographers with keen observations.
For the past 16 years, I’ve also selected an end-of-the-year top-10 list of vehicles of the year. It’s based only on the new cars and trucks I drove for a week and reviewed. Every year, it’s also the only model year of the calendar year.
The Car of the Year for 2023 is the Lucid Air. The Lucid Air (Grand Touring) and Lucid Air (Pure) were reviewed among the 38 vehicles I drove for a week.
Here’s what I wrote in part in my review of the Lucid Air (Grand Touring):
“Available in Pure, Touring, Grand Touring, Grand Touring Performance, and the new-for-2023 Sapphire trims, the Lucid Air is a high-performance, handsome, and the-future-is-now vehicle that provides a new definition of a sedan.
“Spacious and wide-bodied, the reviewed Lucid Air (Grand Touring) has 819 horsepower and a 112-kWh battery that provides the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive wonder with a 516-mile range and acceleration from 0-to-60 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds.”
“For performance enthusiasts and the electric vehicle obsessed, the stats are industry-best numbers. For the rest of us, sub-three-second efforts may cause lightheadedness. Conversely, driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles and halfway home isn’t possible in many gasoline-powered vehicles. A recharge isn’t required for long hours behind the racing-styled Lucid wheel.”
Lucid needs a more expansive marketing plan. It’s the brand that can give Tesla a challenge and maybe it will. But the manufacturer would do well to expand its consumer exposure.
Several potential Tesla competitors have swiftly arrived and departed without any impact. Lucid Motors, less than two years into its luxury electric sedan life, has the potential to be the exception to end Elon Musk’s 15-year dominance.
Designed in Newark, built in Casa Grande, Arizona, and majority owned by a Saudi Arabian sovereign investment fund, Lucid’s cars at least equal the Tesla offerings in a dozen criteria. It outdoes the EV stalwart in several ways. It’s new, powerful, industry bending and has limited availability, traits Tesla also had in its infancy.
Unveiled in October 2021 as a 2022 model, Lucid produced 7,180 vehicles last year, about one-third of the original estimate after industry-wide supply chain issues. The 2023 edition is now also available without substantial changes from the debut year. Lucid said it manufactured 10,000 vehicles this year.
Joining Lucid on the top-10 list this year in order from No. 2: the Genesis G90, Genesis GV70, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Kia EV6, Cadillac Escalade, BMW8 Competition, Toyota Prius, BMW i7 XDrive60 and the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid XSE.
Like Lucid, Genesis, the South Korean manufacturer, makes outstanding vehicles. It’s been a stand-alone brand for nearly a decade, but Genesis is still largely unknown to some car buyers. The Genesis was a former top-end sedan for Hyundai, only outdone by the low-selling and also now-defunct Equus. The latter became the Genesis G90 and debuted with the brand’s arrival in 2015 as the top-line spinoff. The G80 and G890 debuted in the United States in 2016 as 2017 models. The carmaker now has eight models.
Throughout its lineup, Genesis vehicles offer innovation, comfort, value and the same 10-year warranty parameters as Hyundai and Kia, its automotive relatives.
Two unlikely vehicles on the list are the Cadillac Escalade and the Toyota Prius. The cars couldn’t be more different. The Escalade is a behemoth gas-guzzler. But it’s an ideal, safe family cruiser. It doesn’t fit well in parking spaces and weighs nearly three tons. But it’s among the best automotive anxiety relievers in the increasingly chaotic world of driving.
The Prius, designed for 2023, has a more stealth sports car look with more horsepower, better performance and an overall welcoming appeal. Even some Prius detractors’ political silliness has stopped. It achieves nearly 60 miles per gallon.
The reviewed Prius Prime plug-in model has 220 horsepower, a substantial boost. Toyota has also addressed one of the car’s biggest drawbacks. It was sluggish. With increased power in its 2.0-liter inline setup, acceleration improves in the 0-to-60 miles per hour standard by nearly four seconds to 6.6 seconds.
James Raia, a syndicated automotive columnist in Sacramento, is the founder and senior editor of TheWeeklyDriver.com. It includes a sign-up for a few newsletter and podcast. Email: [email protected].
