Luxury electric car manufacturer Lucid has opened its first international factory in Saudi Arabia, the home of its largest shareholder.
The factory, located in Jeddah, will have an initial capacity to assemble 5,000 Lucid vehicles annually, according to the company. Lucid said it plans to expand the facility to a production capacity of 150,000 cars. Workers at the plant will initially reassemble Lucid Air kits that were previously manufactured at the company’s U.S. plant in Casa Grande, Arizona. Lucid aims to move the Saudi factory to complete production of the building block after the middle of the decade.
The opening of the factory comes one year after the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is linked to the government of the Kingdom Public Investment Fund The company, which owns 60% of Lucid, said it will buy 100,000 electric vehicles produced by the automaker over the next decade.
The Saudi Arabia government has initially pledged to purchase 50,000 Lucid electric vehicles with an option to purchase an additional 50,000 over the same 10-year time frame. The pledge includes the Lucid Air, a luxury sedan launched in 2021, as well as future models such as the upcoming Gravity SUV.
The electric vehicle sales agreement is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan, which seeks to diversify its economy away from fossil fuels.