Air

Segment
Sedan

You never know what Elon Musk will do next. During his first time hosting Saturday Night Live last weekend, the Tesla CEO revealed he has Asperger's Syndrome, which may explain some of his eccentricities. "I'm actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger's to host Saturday Night Live - or at least the first to admit it," he joked during his opening monologue on the comedy sketch show.

"To anyone I've offended I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars and I'm sending people to Mars on a rocket ship. Did you think I was also gonna be a chill, normal dude?" He also joked about his son's peculiar name, his controversial Tweets, and the time he smoked cannabis during a podcast.

Never shying from controversy, Musk also joked about OJ Simpson and described Dogecoin as a "hustle," causing the value of the virtual currency to fall by a third. While Musk was praised for his humility and self-deprecating humor, his flat delivery in the episode's comedy sketches wasn't as well received.

Taking advantage of the buzz surrounding Musk's appearance on the comedy sketch show, rival automaker Lucid aired its first TV commercial for the upcoming Air during the commercial break, introducing millions of viewers to the electric startup. In the commercial, Lucid highlights the electric sedan's 500+ mile range and $69,900 starting price.

With a claimed range of 517 miles in its Grand Touring guise, the Lucid Air has a higher range than the current Model S Long Range Plus, which has a range of 402 miles. In response, Tesla's upcoming Model S Plaid Plus will have over 520 miles of range. However, the Model S Plaid Plus isn't expected to arrive until mid-2022, whereas deliveries for the Lucid Air Dream Edition, which has 503 miles of range, will start later this year.

Lucid wasn't the only electric carmaker that used Elon Musk's appearance on Saturday Night Live as a massive advertising opportunity, either: advertisements for the Volkswagen ID.4, Audi e-tron, and Ford Mustang Mach-E also aired during the commercial breaks.