Did you know: Shaquille O'Neal had a unique Lucid Air coupe built so he could actually fit inside?
08/03/2026
Most luxury electric sedans are designed with comfort and space in mind. But sometimes even that isn’t enough.
For Shaquille O'Neal, who stands 2.16 meters tall and weighs over 140 kilograms, a standard Lucid Air simply wasn’t practical. So the former NBA superstar turned to the custom specialists at West Coast Customs. Their solution? Transform the four-door luxury sedan into a two-door coupe with significantly larger doors, making it much easier for Shaq to get in and out.
A radical modification for extra space
On paper, the Lucid Air already offers generous interior space, including more than 100 centimeters of front legroom. For most drivers, that’s more than enough. But for someone of Shaq’s size, it still wasn’t ideal.
To improve access and comfort, West Coast Customs removed the rear doors entirely and redesigned the body into a coupe configuration with longer doors. The process required extensive structural modifications to the vehicle.
Interestingly, the final result looks surprisingly subtle. From a distance, the car almost appears as if it could have come directly from the Lucid factory.
Classic Shaq touches
Like many cars in Shaq’s collection, this Lucid received several personal touches. The wheels feature self-centering center caps with the Superman logo, a reference to the nickname he often embraced during his basketball career. The paint color was also matched to his Rolls-Royce Cullinan, ensuring both vehicles share a similar aesthetic.
The most ironic detail, however, is located on the front grille. Instead of the usual Lucid lettering, the badge now reads “Diesel.” This references Shaq’s DJ stage name (DJ Diesel) but it’s also humorously contradictory, considering the Lucid Air is a fully electric vehicle.
Still an incredibly powerful EV
Although the exact version of the Lucid Air used for this build hasn’t been confirmed, every variant of the model delivers serious performance.
Even the entry-level Touring model produces around 620 horsepower and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in roughly 3.4 seconds. In other words, Shaq’s custom coupe doesn’t just offer more space, it still delivers the performance expected from a modern electric luxury sedan.
Lucid itself has no plans to produce an official Air coupe, however. The market for large luxury coupes has been shrinking over the past decade, as buyers increasingly favor SUVs. That shift is reflected in Lucid’s own lineup expansion with the launch of the Lucid Gravity.
AutoNext Take: sometimes the coolest cars are built outside the factory
This unique Lucid Air highlights how creative the automotive world can become when personalization takes center stage.
Projects like this Lucid Air coupe represent another side of that same passion. Not everything has to come from a manufacturer’s factory. Sometimes the most interesting cars appear when enthusiasts and custom builders create something that simply didn’t exist before.
And honestly, an electric coupe specifically modified for a 7’1” NBA legend? That’s exactly the kind of automotive story that makes car culture so entertaining.
