Saudi Arabia Targets Carmaking Big League With Lucid Tie-Up

[Corruptistan]

Saudi Arabia Targets Carmaking Big League With Lucid Tie-Up​

• The country plans to make 300,000 autos a year by 2030
• Auto industry a key focus for diversifying away from oil

Lucid Air Dream Edition
Source: Lucid Motors

By
Reema Al Othman
19 May 2022 14.29 CEST

Saudi Arabia is working toward rolling out hundreds of thousands of cars a year, joining forces with luxury electric-vehicle startup Lucid Group Inc. as it looks to become a hub for automakers.

The kingdom, seeking to diversify its economy away from oil, is aiming to make some 300,000 cars a year by 2030, Industry and Minerals Resources Minister Bandar Alkhorayef said. Half of those cars will by built by Lucid, he said.

“Our direction toward setting up more EV manufacturing plants is very serious and important,” the minister said in an interview at the King Abdullah Economic City on the country’s west coast, where Lucid is building a factory.

Lucid, which is part-owned by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, will export 85% of its Saudi-made EVs, while other manufacturers are expected to export about 25%, he said. Exports would target India, China, Africa and the rest of the Middle East, he said.

Saudi Arabia is trying to turn the region on the west coast near Jeddah into a hub for manufacturing cars. Alkhorayef said in October that the kingdom was in talks with other automakers to establish a presence in the country alongside the Lucid plant. The $600 billion Public Investment Fund has said investing in the autos sector is one of its priority.

The PIF, as the wealth fund is known, owns about 60% of Lucid, having acquired a stake while it was still private and then supporting its listing through a merger with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company last year. Lucid recently started production of its first model, the Air sedan, at its factory in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Chairman Andrew Liveris told Bloomberg TV in January that the company hopes to have the factory up and running by 2026. Construction is slated to begin later this year.

Lucid will receive as much as $3.4 billion in financing and incentives over the next 15 years for its planned factory in Saudi Arabia, which will be able to make as many as 155,000 electric vehicles annually, the company said on Wednesday.

The automaker reached a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance last month to buy up to 100,000 electric vehicles from Lucid over the next 10 years.

Saudi Arabia Targets Carmaking Big League With Lucid Tie-Up

Saudi Arabia is working toward rolling out hundreds of thousands of cars a year, joining forces with luxury electric-vehicle startup Lucid Group Inc. as it looks to become a hub for automakers.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[Corruptistan]

CONSTRUCTION

Lucid Group announces first overseas manufacturing facility in KSA​

By Gavin Davids
Posted on May 23, 2022

The high-tech facility will have the capacity to manufacture 155,000 electric vehicles annually

US-based luxury electric vehicle manufacturer, Lucid Group, has set the stage for the construction of its AMP-2 production facility in Saudi Arabia, with the hosting of a ceremonial signing event.

In a statement, Lucid said that the event celebrated the February 2022 agreements with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, Emaar, the Economic City at King Abdullah Economic City and Gulf International Bank.

Those agreements have set the stage for the construction of the Lucid production facility in Saudi Arabia, which will have a capacity of 155,000 electric vehicles, the statement explained. It added that they will provide financing and incentives to Lucid up to $3.4bn in aggregate over the next 15 years to build and operate the manufacturing facility in the Kingdom.

“This signing ceremony marks yet another step forward in the realisation of Lucid’s mission to inspire the adoption of sustainable energy, and I’m delighted this brand-new manufacturing facility will come to fruition here in Saudi Arabia,” said Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s CEO and CTO. “I’m truly delighted to partner with PIF, our signing partners, and the Government of Saudi Arabia in advancing our shared vision of global sustainability.”

Rawlinson added: “We are thrilled to be supporting Saudi Arabia in achieving its sustainability goals and Net Zero ambitions, as outlined in Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, by taking steps to help diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy through the establishment of manufacturing capacity in KAEC for up to 155,000 of Lucid’s zero-emissions, electric vehicles per year.”

Rawlinson was joined at the signing event by Sherry House, Lucid’s CFO; Jonathan Butler, Lucid’s General Counsel; Faisal Sultan, Lucid’s Managing Director, Middle East; and senior representatives from the Ministry of Investments, Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, and PIF.

His Excellency Eng. Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia, said: “With this signing ceremony, we are taking a major step towards Saudi Arabia’s goal of diversifying its economy by creating a new manufacturing hub to spearhead the future of mobility for the Middle East region. 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.”

His Excellency Bandar Alkhorayef, the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources and Chairman of Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF), stated that the automotive industry in the Kingdom is one of the important sectors supported by the National Industrial Strategy (NIS), since it is one of the complex industries that contribute to the development of supply chains for a wide range of products, noting that all entities of the industry ecosystem are working together to attract investments, including EVs, to the Kingdom.

Turqi Al-Nowaiser, PIF’s Deputy Governor and Head of International Investments Division said: “PIF partners with leading global innovators, like Lucid, to shape the economies of the future and drive the economic transformation of Saudi Arabia in line with Saudi Vision 2030.”

Lucid reviewed multiple opportunities before selecting KAEC in Saudi Arabia, an area known for its livability and sustainability, as the optimal location for the second of its global network of electric vehicle manufacturing facilities. Lucid also officially designated the new Saudi Arabian plant “AMP-2” (Advanced Manufacturing Plant #2), indicating its position as the next cornerstone of Lucid’s vertically integrated global production network.

The factory is situated in KAEC’s ‘Industrial Valley,’ close to King Abdullah Port along the main Red Sea trading corridor, an area which has handled more than a third of Saudi Arabia’s Western Region container volumes. Lucid’s Middle East regional headquarters in Riyadh has been operational since last year.

Commenting on the agreement, Cyril Piaia, CEO of Emaar The Economic City, master developer of KAEC, remarked: “With this momentous agreement, we welcome Lucid’s first electric vehicle plant outside the US. KAEC and Saudi Arabia stand to reap considerable long-term benefits from the project, which is expected to produce 150,000 electric vehicles per year upon completion and create over 4,500 jobs in the city.

The sustainable-mobility options the plant is set to provide, along with a marked uptick in employment opportunities, will bolster KAEC’s reputation as the Kingdom’s leading automotive hub and a vision-ready platform for investors everywhere. It also reflects our commitment towards the realisation of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals for economic diversification and the development of promising new sectors.”

Abdulaziz Al-Helaissi, Group CEO of GIB, commented: “GIB is proud to be a part of this important step to develop sustainable transportation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and support the transition away from fossil fuels. This is a great opportunity for Lucid and for Saudi Arabia and captures the spirit of Vision 2030. GIB believes that green and sustainable finance can be a force for good and we are committed to a sustainable future.”

“Lucid has set out to address global market demand for EVs, while also taking action to address climate change through inspiring sustainable transportation, and today’s signing ceremony marks the beginning of this journey,” said Faisal Sultan, Lucid’s Managing Director, Middle East. “Alongside PIF, our partners at MISA, KAEC, and SIDF, and our customer at MOF, we have gained unique insight into the demand for electric vehicles and SUVs in Saudi Arabia and beyond, helping in our efforts to introduce the world’s most advanced electric vehicles to exciting new markets.”

At AMP-2, Lucid plans to establish operations initially for re-assembly of Lucid Air vehicle “kits” that are pre-manufactured at the company’s U.S. AMP-1 facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, and, over time, for production of complete vehicles. Lucid expects construction of the plant to commence shortly, and at its peak, Lucid expects to manufacture up to 155,000 vehicles per year at the facility.

Vehicles will be initially slated for the Saudi Arabian market, but Lucid plans to export finished vehicles to other global markets. In addition, Middle East regional deliveries of the Lucid Air are expected to begin later this year, supported from the Casa Grande factory.

In April 2022, the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Saudi Arabia (MOF) entered into an agreement with Lucid to purchase at least 50,000 and potentially up to 100,000 Lucid vehicles over a ten-year period. The order quantity for the committed volume is expected to range from 1,000 to 2,000 vehicles annually and increase to between 4,000 and 7,000 vehicles annually by 2025.

The purchase price of the vehicles will be based on Lucid’s standard retail prices as previously disclosed. This commitment supports the government’s drive to diversify the economy, provide thousands of local highly skilled job opportunities, and provide economic benefits to Saudi Arabia in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

Lucid Group announces first overseas manufacturing facility in KSA

The high-tech facility will have the capacity to manufacture 155,000 electric vehicles annually

meconstructionnews.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1482752742942724099

Amazing what you can do to increase your wealth if you have enough of it. It is in fact harder to lose your wealth than increase it when we are talking about such high sums of money.

 

[Kedikesenfare2]

Saudi projects are almost always never as promising as the advertisement says it would be. It's a production facility, HOWEVER, its main purpose is to assemble the vehicles. It's not an industrial production facility.

 

[Corruptistan]

Saudi projects are almost always never as promising as the advertisement says it would be. It's a production facility, HOWEVER, its main purpose is to assemble the vehicles. It's not an industrial production facility.

Utter nonsense spoken from a woefully ignorant position otherwise such a empty claim would not have been made by you. It is the whole package, not merely assembly. If that was the case, KSA would never agree. Where do you even see talk or even remote evidence of this solely being an assembly? Just like your first claim, it is a baseless assumption.

It will be a complete vehicle plant. They are creating the power train, the key electric power train, constructing the Lucid battery pack, the motors, invertors, wonder box technology, all the integrated electric vehicle power train plus the car. Complete vehicle construction in other words.

Saudi Arabia has access to the minerals needed to produce electric vehicle batteries too as well as one of the world's largest domestic aluminum and plastics productions in-house which are key components of any vehicle production industry.

Those are not only my claims but that of the Lucid Motors CEO.

 

[Corruptistan]

 

[KingMamba]

Saudi projects are almost always never as promising as the advertisement says it would be. It's a production facility, HOWEVER, its main purpose is to assemble the vehicles. It's not an industrial production facility.

I was going to ask why would Saudis agree to it if what you are sayin is true but someone beat me to it lol.

 

[Corruptistan]

I think that KSA (PIF) is founding the new Lucid Motors factory in the US (Arizona) that is being build.

Looks huge. With the financial backing of KSA, they can establish themselves as a main player in the electrical vehicle market and challenge Tesla.

A car every 10 minutes will be produced in the factory according to Lucid Motors.

I was going to ask why would Saudis agree to it if what you are sayin is true but someone beat me to it lol.

We are not talking about garments here after all.

 

[The SC]

I think that KSA (PIF) is founding the new Lucid Motors factory in the US (Arizona) that is being build.

Looks huge. With the financial backing of KSA, they can establish themselves as a main player in the electrical vehicle market and challenge Tesla.

A car every 10 minutes will be produced in the factory according to Lucid Motors.



We are not talking about garments here after all.

Just tell these guys talking from ignorance that KSA owns almost all of the shares of LUCID..

 

[Corruptistan]

Just tell these guys talking from ignorance that KSA owns almost all of the shares of LUCID..

Problem is that the idea many people have of Arabs (contrary to actual history or even the status quo today) is that they are lazy, cannot do anything on their own etc. It is basically a mechanism used to make yourself "superior" even though it is nonsense, backward and tells a lot about yourself. It is dehumanizing and make them appear like children that always needs the protection of someone etc. I have noticed this even on PDF, so is the power/influence of Western-created stereotypes if people are ignorant and not educated.

Look at how some (Hollywood) have portrayed one of the most influential and beautiful languages in history (Arabic) and most spoken (even 1 of the 6 official UN languages) as some kind of primitive (when it has one of the richest literary traditions and depth of any language on earth) language.

A lot of it is due to envy of the wealth and historical (Arabs and the Western world were rivals for a very long time, Arabs ruled large areas of Europe for centuries) animosity and the Islam-Christianity/West angle.

In reality the Christian civilization rests on the Abrahamic one (which is basically a branch of Arab culture) and Rome and Greek civilizations rest on much older civilizations native to the Arab world such as Egypt, Mesopotamia etc. Half of the Roman Empire was composed of what is Arab territory today from KSA to Morocco. Ironically the largest Roman coliseums and some of the best kept Roman cities are found in the Arab world today rather than in Europe.

So ironically the same West has very close ties to the Arab world historically and they are neighbors but the relationship is based on misunderstandings and a forgotten shared history.

But the reasons for that are simple, the Western relationship with the Islamic/Arab world has been that of a stronger party (in the past 500 years or so). Which was not the case 1000 years ago for instance.

This is how I see it and many historians at least.

 

[The SC]

Problem is that the idea many people have of Arabs (contrary to actual history or even the status quo today) is that they are lazy, cannot do anything on their own etc. It is basically a mechanism used to make yourself "superior" even though it is nonsense, backward and tells a lot about yourself. It is dehumanizing and make them appear like children that always needs the protection of someone etc. I have noticed this even on PDF, so is the power/influence of Western-created stereotypes if people are ignorant and not educated.

Look at how some (Hollywood) have portrayed one of the most influential and beautiful languages in history (Arabic) and most spoken (even 1 of the 6 official UN languages) as some kind of primitive (when it has one of the richest literary traditions and depth of any language on earth) language.

A lot of it is due to envy of the wealth and historical (Arabs and the Western world were rivals for a very long time, Arabs ruled large areas of Europe for centuries) animosity and the Islam-Christianity/West angle.

In reality the Christian civilization rests on the Abrahamic one (which is basically a branch of Arab culture) and Rome and Greek civilizations rest on much older civilizations native to the Arab world such as Egypt, Mesopotamia etc. Half of the Roman Empire was composed of what is Arab territory today from KSA to Morocco. Ironically the largest Roman coliseums and some of the best kept Roman cities are found in the Arab world today rather than in Europe.

View attachment 865017

So ironically the same West has very close ties to the Arab world historically and they are neighbors but the relationship is based on misunderstandings and a forgotten shared history.

But the reasons for that are simple, the Western relationship with the Islamic/Arab world has been that of a stronger party (in the past 500 years or so). Which was not the case 1000 years ago for instance.

This is how I see it and many historians at least.

It is just an inferiority complex projected as superiority.. too bad for those low emotional people..

 

[Corruptistan]

It is just an inferiority complex projected as superiority.. too bad for those low emotional people..

I am big fan of the works of Edward Said.

 

[SQ8]

Beautiful car - test drove and seriously thinking of getting it

 

[LakeHawk180]

I love that that India is a target market. But I’m confused. Unless they plan to do assembly/manufacture locally — India would charge 100+% CIF for imported vehicles.

Or maybe that is the plan. India could be a regional export hub if this picks up in the market.

someone who knows better should comment.

 

[Corruptistan]

I love that that India is a target market. But I’m confused. Unless they plan to do assembly/manufacture locally — India would charge 100+% CIF for imported vehicles.

Or maybe that is the plan. India could be a regional export hub if this picks up in the market.

someone who knows better should comment.

Watch the interview of the CEO of Lucid Motors that I posted in this thread.

It will be a complete vehicle plant. They are creating the power train, the key electric power train, constructing the Lucid battery pack, the motors, invertors, wonder box technology, all the integrated electric vehicle power train plus the car. Complete vehicle construction in other words.

Saudi Arabia has access to the minerals needed to produce electric vehicle batteries too as well as one of the world's largest domestic aluminum and plastics productions in-house which are key components of any vehicle production industry.

KSA was chosen because it sits at the crossroads of 3 continents (Asia, Africa and Europe).
The CEO said that the main market will be the MENA market and other nearby markets. No mention of India anywhere directly so your post is a bit strange. South Asia is probably a target market down the line though.

Don't forget that Lucid Motors is majority-owned by PIF (KSA).

Anyway it is a luxury electrical vehicle but the CEO of Lucid Motors said that more affordable versions versions will be build.

Watch from 5:50 minutes into the video.

 

[LakeHawk180]

Lucid, which is part-owned by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, will export 85% of its Saudi-made EVs, while other manufacturers are expected to export about 25%, he said. Exports would target India, China, Africa and the rest of the Middle East, he said.

No mention of India anywhere directly so your post is a bit strange. South Asia is probably a target market down the line though.

Direct quote from the article you posted. Thanks.