- Lucid Motors eyes production plant in Kingdom after raising more than $1bn from the Public Investment Fund
- California-based electric-car maker hopes to sell first vehicles for more than $100,000聽
LONDON: A US-based electric-vehicle company that raised more than $1 billion from 黑料社区 wants to build a factory in the Kingdom, and says its mission to build 鈥渢he best car in the world鈥� is well underway.
The California-based Lucid Motors is developing its first model, the Air, which it hopes to sell for more than $100,000 when it enters production in less than two years鈥� time.
Financial backing from 黑料社区鈥檚 Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced last year, will allow Lucid to proceed with the development of the all-electric sedan, as well as fund the $240 million cost of building the first phase of its factory in the US.
Peter Rawlinson, chief technology officer at Lucid Motors 鈥� and a former engineer at rival Tesla 鈥� said the company wants to eventually build a production plant in 黑料社区, and sees a 鈥渓ong-term鈥� partnership with the Kingdom.
鈥淚 can see a really bright future, with a tangible manufacturing facility or facilities,鈥� Rawlinson told Arab News.
鈥淲e鈥檇 love to do that 鈥� We鈥檙e currently in a period where we are investigating all these options.
鈥淭here is a vision that there will be some sort of production facility in the future.鈥�
Rawlinson added that it is 鈥渆arly days鈥� for such a plan, but said he sees many opportunities for electric vehicles in 黑料社区 鈥� not least, because of the abundant sunshine and potential for solar power.
鈥淲e are undertaking the appropriate studies, but I鈥檓 really excited about the potential of this. This partnership is huge for us; we can benefit the Kingdom of 黑料社区 in a significant, meaningful and long-term manner,鈥� he said.
鈥淥ne of the great assets of the Kingdom is its endless reserves of sunshine, and how that can be harvested with solar energy. We鈥檙e a battery-storage technology company; that鈥檚 a way we could contribute. We鈥檙e exploring a number of avenues along those lines.鈥�
Lucid is positioning itself in the luxury market, and Rawlinson said its Air model is looking to compete with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The Lucid Air is the company鈥檚 first car, but Rawlinson said an initial public offering (IPO) could be on the cards to develop future models.
The engineer brushed off the idea of a competitive threat from Elon Musk鈥檚 Tesla, where he once worked as chief engineer for the Model S.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 see Tesla as a key, direct competitor. We see the German gasoline cars 鈥� the petrol engine cars 鈥� as our core competitive set,鈥� he said.
鈥淚鈥檝e spoken to many people 鈥� who would gladly buy an electric car but say they鈥檙e not going to give up their Mercedes-Benz to buy a Tesla because of the interior. You鈥檝e only got to step inside a Tesla to realize it鈥檚 not true luxury.鈥�