Saudi Arabia is getting its own electric vehicle brand. Ceer, launched by the Kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdzulaziz, will be the country’s first automotive brand to make EVs—and they’re probably coming faster than you may expect.
A joint venture between Saudi’s Public Investment Fund and Foxconn (yep, Apple’s long-time iPhone manufacturer), more precisely known as the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the company will design, manufacture and sell sedans, SUVs and more, aimed at consumers in MENA specifically—with the first cars set for release in 2025.
Saudi has big plans for Ceer. As of now, it’s earmarked to create 30,000 jobs, $150 million in foreign direct investment, and contribute $8 billion to Saudi’s GDP by 2034.
As far as the tech, it plans to license component tech from BMW, with electric architecture developed by Foxconn.
Foxconn is not new to this business of course. The company launched Foxtron in 2020, debuting its first cars in 2021.
Pictured in this article is Foxtron’s concept car ‘Model B’–though it’s unsure if Foxtron will continue or be folded into the Ceer project, or whether this is a good indicator of what Ceer’s car will look like. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.
“Saudi Arabia is not just building a new automotive brand, we are igniting a new industry and an ecosystem that attracts international and local investments, creates job opportunities for local talent, enables the private sector, and contributes to increasing Saudi Arabia’s GDP over the next decade, as part of PIF’s strategy to drive the economic growth in line with Vision 2030,” Mohammed bin Salman said.
“Foxconn is excited about our partnership with PIF to create a new automotive company that will focus on designing and manufacturing electric vehicles in and for Saudi Arabia. We will leverage Foxconn’s technological expertise to support Ceer’s vision of creating a range of iconic electric vehicles that are built around the themes of connectivity, infotainment and autonomy. We want to make electric vehicles mainstream, and that is what Ceer is going to achieve in Saudi Arabia and the wider region,” Chairman of Hon Hai Technology Group, Young Liu, said.
Will it be able to compete with Tesla, or the amazing EVs coming out of brands such as Mercedes-EQ and Audi? Time will tell…