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  • The tri-motor Lucid Air Sapphire has 214 hp more than the Model S Plaid.
  • The Air Sapphire was recently independently tested from 0-60 mph in 1.77 seconds.
  • While the Lucid is quicker, it costs more than twice as much as the Tesla.

The Lucid Air Sapphire can officially claim on being the world’s quickest-accelerating production sedan after the DragTimes YouTube channel pitted it against a Tesla Model S Plaid in a series of drag races.

For a few years now, the Model S Plaid has been virtually untouchable on a straight line and only rivaled by electric hypercars like the Rimac Nevera. With the Air Sapphire, Lucid set out to beat the flagship Tesla, all while doing so without abandoning the luxurious and plush cabin of the standard Air. The end result is a sedan with three electric motors and a combined 1,234 hp, allowing it to run down the quarter mile in less than 9 seconds.

Watch: Witness The Lucid Air Sapphire Become The World’s Quickest 1/4 Mile Production Sedan

To see how the new Lucid compares with his Model S Plaid, Brooks from the DragTimes channel headed to the dragstrip with his friend driving a freshly delivered Air Sapphire.

In the first of the three races held, Brooks jumped the gun and red-lighted in the Tesla, allowing him to pull away from the Lucid but giving the Air Sapphire the win by default. The second race was also marred by a jump start, this time for the driver of the Lucid. Fortunately, both drivers get excellent launches in the third race, providing a great comparison between them.

While the Tesla is an absolute beast off the line, it cannot match the Lucid. Both drivers had very similar launches but thanks to its extra power and technical wizardry, the Air immediately established a sizeable lead over the Tesla, and continued pulling away, ultimately finishing in 8.965 seconds at 153.61 mph (247.2 km/h) compared to the Tesla’s 9.288 seconds at 149.56 mph (240.6 km/h). This equated to approximately a three-car length win for the Lucid.

In separate tests performed earlier this month, Brooks recorded a 1.77-second sprint to 60 mph (96 km/h) in the Lucid with the industry-standard one-foot rollout. He also set a personal best quarter-mile time of 8.93 seconds and says it launches noticeably harder than the Tesla.

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