Lucid wants to establish a factory in Saudi Arabia by 2025 or 2026 to operate alongside its existing facility in the United States.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is a key investor in the electric vehicle startup and is reportedly eager to see a factory established at the King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah. It is understood the fund will prove much of the money for the plant. Reports state that the site could also be located in the new city of Neom that’s being developed in the northwest part of the kingdom.
“Now that we are successfully producing and selling cars in the U.S., our attention is turning to this factory here,” Lucid chairman Andrew Liveris told Bloomberg Television while speaking at a mining conference in Riyadh.
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During the conference, Liveries also acknowledged that the car manufacturer is experiencing supply chain problems.
“We’ll have a lot more to say to the market about the sorts of things we’re seeing in the supply chain,” he said. “Yes, we’re experiencing supply chain issues.”
News about Lucid’s plans to build a factory in Saudi Arabia comes shortly after the company confirmed it will expand into Europe this year. In addition, it is expected to start sales of cars to the Middle East this year while order books for cars in China will open in 2023.
It’s not all good news for Lucid, though. In December 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed the automaker as part of an investigation into its $24 billion deal with special purpose acquisition company Churchill Capital Corp. IV.
