Saudi Arabia’s first domestically developed electric vehicle manufacturer is preparing to challenge a U.S.-based competitor it already partially owns. Ceer Motors, where the Public Investment Fund holds the controlling stake, unveiled its first two electric vehicle models on September 21, with customer deliveries scheduled for March 2027. Both vehicles were developed locally and will be produced at Ceer’s facility in King Abdullah Economic City, located north of Jeddah. This initiative marks the kingdom’s third major investment in electric mobility, following its 2018 acquisition of roughly 5% of Tesla—which it later sold—and an $8 billion commitment to Lucid Motors in California.
Ceer’s Launch Creates Uncomfortable Competition
The introduction of Ceer creates an unusual competitive dynamic for the United States: Saudi Arabia is developing its own electric vehicle brand while its sovereign wealth fund maintains a majority ownership in Lucid, whose primary production hub is in Arizona. Ceer represents a strategic safeguard for the Public Investment Fund, which has seen Lucid’s stock value decline by over 60% this year and its sales in Saudi Arabia dwindle amid fierce competition from China’s BYD.
Bill Russo, founder of Automobility, a Shanghai-based automotive consulting firm, said Ceer has a different mandate, creating a Saudi automotive OEM [original equipment manufacturer] and, importantly, an indigenous industrial ecosystem.
Founded in November 2022 as a joint venture between the Public Investment Fund and Foxconn, Ceer had originally targeted 2025 for its first vehicle rollout. However, CEO James DeLuca announced last week that production will begin in early 2026, with deliveries set for March 2027. The company plans to expand its lineup over the next five years while aiming to source nearly half of its vehicle components domestically by 2034. Its flagship models, a sedan called Exobot and an SUV, target the premium electric vehicle segment, directly competing with Lucid’s Air sedan and Gravity SUV.
Direct Competition with Lucid and BYD
The most powerful Exobot variants will deliver over 1,100 horsepower, nearly matching Lucid’s top-tier Air Sapphire sedan, which produces 1,234 horsepower, DeLuca stated.
While BYD and Lucid cater to different consumer segments, direct volume comparisons are misleading, according to Hashim AlFatayerji, CEO of Cararak, a Saudi-based automotive advisory firm. The true measure of Ceer’s strategy will be its ability to diversify its product range, Russo added.
Lucid, in which the Public Investment Fund owns approximately 58%, has faced multiple challenges this year. The company appointed a new CEO, Silvio Napoli; cut about a fifth of its U.S. workforce; ended its second production shift in Arizona; and recalled 27,000 sedans over a fire risk. Its market valuation has since dropped to around $1.6 billion.
Read Also: Global South leads in AI optimism
In Saudi Arabia, Lucid’s sales plummeted by 57% in the first seven months of 2026, while BYD’s surged by 369%, according to Focus2Move, an Italian firm tracking global automotive sales. The disparity reflects Lucid’s premium pricing strategy, AlFatayerji noted.
Ceer’s factory has an annual production capacity of 240,000 vehicles, exceeding the current demand in Saudi Arabia, where Lucid operates a smaller local plant. The domestic market cannot absorb such output, according to Joseph Salem, a senior partner at Arthur D. Little specializing in Middle East and North Africa transport sectors. “Combined, their full-capacity targets are roughly 10 times what the domestic market can plausibly absorb near-term,” he said.
Internationally, Ceer will face well-entrenched Chinese competitors, which dominate the Middle East’s electric vehicle market. The International Energy Agency reports that BYD accounts for about 60% of EV sales in the region, with Tesla capturing around 15%. Chinese automakers have established strong supply chains, economies of scale, and competitive pricing, making them formidable rivals, Russo noted.
Ceer’s production relies on external suppliers for critical components, including motors from Croatia’s Rimac and South Korea’s Hyundai Transys, while its platform technology comes from Foxconn. The company has also licensed certain components from BMW. Russo cautioned that licensing alone cannot guarantee competitiveness. A new entrant cannot simply license its way to that level of competitiveness, he said.
Ceer has advantages few new carmakers get, including long-term funding, a powerful backer at home, and the freedom to build on proven technology from others, said Russo. What it still has to earn is a brand that wins customers on product, cost, quality, and execution, he said. “Saudi Arabia gives Ceer the resources and runway to attempt that, but it doesn’t eliminate those competitive tests,” Russo said.
Electric Vehicle Sales in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has no official count of electric vehicle sales. Saudis buy new vehicles, and some of them are electric. The number of electric vehicles sold is estimated.