Electric car startup Lucid Motors Inc. has an undisclosed commitment to build an assembly plant in Saudi Arabia, a potentially expensive promise the company made after accepting more than $ 1 billion in financing from the Saudi Public Investment Fund in 2018, according to people familiar with the matter.
The factory promise represents a significant investment commitment for the startup, which has not yet sold a car from its existing plant in Arizona. It is also a potential benefit for Saudi Arabia, which has struggled to attract Western companies to the country following the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Last month, Lucid agreed to a merger of a special purpose acquisition company, a deal that, if consummated, would allow it to negotiate publicly later this year. The merger agreement valued the Silicon Valley startup at about $ 24 billion.
Lucid did not publicly discuss the Saudi car plant’s plans, but at least one major institutional investor who agreed to invest as part of the SPAC deal was informed about them, according to people familiar with the discussion.
A spokesman for Lucid Motors said he “expects to establish manufacturing facilities in several geographies, including Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and potentially Europe in the years to come.” The spokesman said the company’s “short-term priority” is to start production later this year at its Arizona facility.