On December 13, Faisal Sultan, global vice president and managing director of the Middle East for electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid, said that the company's Saudi Arabia factory has assembled nearly 800 vehicles since its opening, and the main focus is on training more than 200 local employees. In September, Lucid opened its first factory outside the United States in Saudi Arabia with an initial annual production capacity of 5,000 electric vehicles. Previously, the Saudi government promised to purchase up to 100,000 vehicles from the company within 10 years.
Sultan told Reuters, "The car was completely manufactured in Arizona (USA), then disassembled into components, and finally shipped to Saudi Arabia and reassembled locally." Sultan further revealed that the company's Jeddah factory in Saudi Arabia reinstalled the battery, interior and tires, and retested the vehicle.
As part of the Saudi government's plan to establish an electric vehicle industry center, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF invested billions of dollars in Lucid and owns more than 60% of the company's shares.
Lucid has been losing money since its inception. As of September this year, Lucid had accumulated losses of US$9.5 billion. Sultan said, "(The Saudi factory) is a small business for us. The reason why we maintain this business is that we want to achieve results in the way we train people."
Currently, Lucid is training employees, half of whom are Saudi, to set up a complete manufacturing operation (CBU), a factory capable of producing cars, in the kingdom by 2026. It is reported that the construction of the factory has begun. Sultan revealed that CBU’s operations depend on the supply chain and talent pool. In addition, Lucid also hopes that the factory will promote key component suppliers to establish operations in the Kingdom.