Riyadh: United States (US) based electric car maker Lucid Motors, on Wednessay signed agreements to establish its first factory outside the United States of America (USA), in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The company aims to produce 150,000 cars annually with investments exceeding 12.3 billion riyals after completing its factory in Industrial Valley in King Abdullah Economic City.
These agreements are expected to provide financing and incentives to Lucid totaling $3.4 billion over the next 15 years to build and operate a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the Kingdom for electric vehicles.
The Lucid factory will produce four different types of electric cars starting in 2023, and it will reach its full capacity in 2028.
There will also be two exclusive types of the plant to be built in Saudi Arabia, and nearly 95 per cent of its production will be exported; this supports the balance of payments and supply chains, and opens new investment opportunities in the Kingdom.
On this occasion, Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of Lucid Corporation, said: “With today’s official signing ceremony, we usher in a new and important phase in LUcid’s journey to catalyze the adoption of sustainable energy technologies and solutions. We are pleased that the new manufacturing facility has begun to support this. Heading from its headquarters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we are also pleased to cooperate with the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi government and all our partners in these agreements to support our shared vision in the field of global sustainability.”
For his part, the Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih, said, “Attracting a global leader in electric vehicles such as Lucid to open its first international manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia reflects our commitment to creating long-term economic value in a sustainable, enduring, and globally integrated way.”
“This project demonstrates the confidence investors have in Saudi Arabia’s competitiveness, its ability to create opportunity, and serve global demand for a highly complex product such as electric vehicles,” Al-Falih added.
In April 2022, the Saudi Ministry of Finance announced the signing of an agreement with Lucid to commit to purchase 50,000 electric vehicles, with the possibility of purchasing 100,000 additional vehicles over the next ten years.
It is expected to start delivering the factory’s electric vehicles in the Saudi market during this year; the factory will work to meet the growing demand for electric cars in the Kingdom and the region, and will also enhance the export capacity of the Middle East markets from the Kingdom.
It is noteworthy that the Kingdom has witnessed an increase in foreign direct investment in recent years. In 2021, it reached its highest level in more than a decade, driven by the Kingdom’s ambitious economic transformation agenda in accordance with Vision 2030 and the National Investment Strategy launched last year.
