Saudi Arabia is dead serious about turning itself into a crucial automotive hub. It wants to rival China and India. It wants to join Europe and the US on the global car scene. That ambition is slowly turning into reality now that Hyundai is lending a helping hand. Here's the gist of it.
In 2022, Saudi Arabia officially introduced Ceer – its very own homegrown automotive entity. Although details about a potential lineup, a factory, and manufacturing plans were unknown, the country was hyped up Ceer. People involved in the matter used all sorts of hyperboles to describe the young brand as the next best thing, even though not much was shared about its future.
There were some rumors about a collaboration with BMW and Foxconn, but nothing was certain.
However, earlier this year, new details emerged. The entity was supposed to get its own design studio, and a partnership with Lucid seemed inevitable. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) owns over 60% of the American EV maker, which recently opened the AMP-2 plant in KAEC, and it also controls Ceer.
Ceer CFO Joerg Schuessler confirmed at the Saudi–Korean Investment Forum that the young brand is in a partnership with BMW, allowing it access to the German marque's technological progress in the all-electric sector.
The Middle Eastern country currently imports most of the vehicles that occupy its roads and wants that to change. That's why it wanted to bring Hyundai on board, too, and it has now succeeded.
A new automotive joint venture was announced during a visit of South Korea's President to Saudi Arabia. Hyundai (30%) and PIF (70%) should start to work together very soon. They plan to establish a manufacturing facility where at least 50,000 vehicles will be made starting in 2026. The initial investment is approximately $500 million, which means Hyundai will spend around $150 million for this project.
That's an ambitious target. We expect the number of vehicles made in Saudi Arabia to be lower in the first years. That is, of course, true only if the agreement reaches maturity and work begins as scheduled in the renewed Memorandum of Understanding.
According to the announcement, Hyundai should build an all-electric vehicle (not yet known which one exactly) in the Middle Eastern country, engines for some of its partially electrified cars and possibly other models, and parts for existing automobiles. That should help Saudi Arabia employ more locals and become an exporter of something other than oil.
Construction of the factory will begin in 2024. It will most likely be located in KAEC, just like Lucid's AMP-2.
Finally, Saudi Arabia's PIF helped Aston Martin stay afloat last year when it bought $94.8 million worth of the British marque's stock. It also got more shares directly from Aston Martin at a discount in exchange for $698.8 million. About three months ago, the Gaydon, UK-based automaker announced a deal with Lucid to use the American brand's next-gen motors on the British brand's upcoming all-electric vehicles.
Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one. Full profile
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