Lucid announced this morning that it has officially opened an electric vehicle factory in Saudi Arabia, the first in the country.
It is confirmation of the launch of an EV production plant that both Lucid and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia collaborated to bring to reality as the two share a strategic partnership that looks to bring sustainable powertrains to the oil-rich country.
In March 2022, Lucid announced that it would officially build its first international EV production facility in Saudi Arabia. It aligned with the country’s major economic investment in Lucid, as the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, or PIF, funneled billions into the company to help it develop world-class EVs.
It started delivering the Air EV in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
Lucid is still battling the early challenges of EV production, and the adversity it has faced proves that money is not the answer to overcome all issues when running a startup.
However, the company does have some unique advantages that others simply do not have. First, the factory could bring Lucid an increase in value that equates to roughly $3.4 billion over the next 15 years, and Saudi Arabia has already signed to add 100,000 Lucid EVs to its fleet of government vehicles.
Initially, Lucid will provide 50,000 units, and Saudi Arabia will have the option to purchase 50,000 more cars.
The factory is Lucid’s second, following the AMP-1 facility in Arizona.
The Saudi Arabia facility will contribute 5,000 units of production every year at first, but Lucid says the site will eventually build 155,000 cars annually.
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