Saudi Arabia presents Ceer, an electric car brand that will launch in 2025

It is surprising to see how the major oil groups are working to take the step towards electric mobility. Large corporations are investing heavily in installing charging infrastructure for electric cars in many countries, especially in Europe. But it is even more surprising that a country that depends entirely on oil, such as Saudi Arabia, is also turning to the production of this type of vehicle.

Saudi Arabia has just announced that it will launch an electric car brand that will operate under the umbrella of the Public Investment Fund (PIF). This brand will be called Ceer and will be partly owned by BMW and Foxconn. It is not the first time the country has tried to get into a business related to electric mobility, as it had negotiations with Tesla to acquire part of the company through the fund.

The negotiations did not work out, but they did with Lucid Motors, a company in which the fund acquired a stake and where a factory was set up in the country. Now, a full-fledged brand will come out of this fund and begin to develop electric vehicles for distribution around the world.

The initial investment from the PIF will be complemented by investments from foreign companies, of which around 150 million dollars have already been obtained, according to information provided by the fund. The return on these investments is expected to add 8 billion dollars to Saudi Arabia’s GDP, although, yes, in 2034.

Technology BMW

The technology Ceer will use will come from licenses from BMW, which will be one of the partners in this venture. The manufacturing of the cars will fall to Foxconn, which will develop the electrical architecture to shape Ceer’s vehicles. The Taiwan-based company is working to manufacture vehicles for other brands, which has allowed it to build a catalogue of components covering a wide variety of items for the infotainment system, connectivity and autonomous driving systems.

Ceer’s idea is to begin the first deliveries of its electric cars in 2025. By 2026 it aims to have exported a total of 150,000 units in 2026, very high expectations, but which demonstrate the importance of the project for the country. It should be clarified that this total includes the cars produced by the Lucid Motors factory and not only Ceer-branded cars.