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By Pesha Magid
RIYADH (Reuters) – Lucid Group has assembled around 800 cars at its Saudi plant since its opening, focusing primarily on educating more than 200 local employees, the electric vehicle maker’s top executive for the Middle East said on Wednesday.
California-based Lucid opened its first factory outside the U. S. in September, with an initial production capacity of 5,000 electric vehicles per year, after the Saudi government pledged to buy up to 100,000 vehicles from it over 10 years.
“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,” Faisal Sultan, who is also Lucid’s Global Vice-President, told Reuters.
Workers in the factory in Jeddah re-attach the battery, put the trim and tyres back on and re-test the vehicle, he added.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns a more than 60% stake in Lucid, has invested billions in the company, building on government plans to identify a hub for the electric vehicle industry.
Lucid posted a cumulative loss of $9. 5 billion in September and has posted losses every year since its launch.
“It’s (the Saudi plant) a small operation for us. The reason we kept it that way is because we need to take small steps in our training technique,” Sultan said.
“You drive about 16, 17 or 20 cars a day, instead of an hour, you can spend time with them to exercise them,” he said.
Lucid is preparing its staff, some of whom are Saudi, for the opening of a complete construction unit (CBU), a factory capable of producing a car, in 2026, the structure of which has already begun.
Opening the CBU depends on supply chains and development, Sultan said, adding: “At the end of the day, it has to make business sense for us to open this plant, but the structure remains. “
Lucid hopes the plant will inspire primary portion suppliers to set up shop in the kingdom.
“We can’t have operational operations and not be effective bringing in portions from all over the world. “
(Reporting via Pesha Magid; editing via Aziz El Yaakoubi and Alexander Smith)