RIYADH: Lucid Group has assembled almost 800 cars in its 海角直播n factory since its opening, with its main focus on training more than 200 local employees, the electronic vehicle maker鈥檚 Middle East managing director said on Wednesday.
California-based Lucid opened its first plant outside the US in September, with an initial capacity to produce 5,000 EVs a year, after the Saudi government pledged to buy up to 100,000 vehicles from it over 10 years.
鈥淭he 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,鈥 Faisal Sultan, who is also Lucid鈥檚 global vice-president, told Reuters.
Workers in the factory in Jeddah re-attach the battery, put the trim and tires back on and re-test the vehicle, he added.
海角直播鈥檚 sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, which owns an over 60 percent stake in Lucid, invested billions in the company, as part of the government鈥檚 plans to establish a hub for the EV industry.
Lucid has recorded an accumulated $9.5-billion loss as of September and posted losses every year since it started.
鈥淚t (the Saudi factory) is a small operation for us. The reason why we have kept it this way is that we want to take baby steps in our approach of training people,鈥 said Sultan.
鈥淵ou are doing roughly 16, 17 to 20 vehicles a day, rather than an hour, you can spend time with them to really train them,鈥 he said.
Lucid is preparing the staff, half of whom are Saudis, for the opening of a complete build unit, a factory capable of manufacturing a car, in 2026, for which construction has begun.
The CBU鈥檚 opening depends on supply chains and workforce development, Sultan said, adding: 鈥淚t has to make business sense at the end of the day for us to open that factory, but construction continues.鈥
Lucid hopes the plant would help encourage key parts suppliers to establish a presence in the Kingdom.
鈥淲e cannot have operations up and running and not be efficient by bringing parts from all over the world.鈥
