It appears that Lucid is adopting a pretty deliberate strategy in its efforts to ramp its operations in Saudi Arabia. As per comments from Lucid global vice-president Faisal Sultan, the automaker is now assembling Lucid Air sedans in its Saudi Arabia factory. So far, almost 800 cars have already been assembled in the facility.
Lucid opened its Saudi Arabia plant in September, with a target production rate of 5,000 vehicles per year. The facility was built following the Saudi Arabian government’s pledge to purchase up to 100,000 Lucid vehicles over a decade. To accomplish this target, Lucid would need a workforce in Saudi that could build its cars according to the company’s standards.
In a comment to Reuters, Sultan noted that the nearly 800 Lucid Air sedans that have been built in the Saudi plant were actually already fully assembled in the company’s Arizona plant. The completed vehicles are simply disassembled, shipped to the Saudi plant as a kit, and reassembled at the Middle Eastern facility.
“The car is fully built in Arizona… then it gets de-assembled… then the car gets shipped here as a kit, and that kit is then put back together,” the Lucid executive said. Workers in the Saudi facility, which is located in Jeddah, are tasked to re-attach the battery, put the trims back on, and reinstall the tires, among others. Each reassembled Lucid Air is also retested.
While Lucid’s current setup at its Saudi plant seems quite inefficient, it should be noted that the automaker is focusing on training its local staff for now. Thus, while the facility could only really finish a few vehicles at a time due to its current setup, Lucid’s Saudi facility would likely improve its output as its workforce becomes more familiar with the production of the luxury electric sedan.
Sultan highlighted this idea in a comment. “It (the Saudi factory) is a small operation for us. The reason why we have kept it this way is that we want to take baby steps in our approach of training people. You are doing roughly 16, 17 to 20 vehicles a day, rather than an hour, you can spend time with them to really train them,” he said.
Ultimately, Lucid is looking to prepare its Saudi staff for a more ambitious project. Plans are underway to open a complete build unit (CBU) facility in Saudi, which should be capable of fully manufacturing a car. The construction for Lucid’s CBU has already started, and the company is aiming to start vehicle production in the facility in 2026.
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