Saudi govt to buy 50,000 Lucid luxury EV sedans

The Ministry of Finance of the Saudi Arabian government will buy 50,000 Lucid electric vehicles (EV) including the Air sedan and future models. The government has also reserved an option to buy another 50,000 EVs over the course of a decade.

This commitment made by the Saudi government is the single largest order for Lucid models to date. It is likely that the automobile manufacturer will get a significant boost in stock value.

Lucid said in a statement that the order will begin with the capacity of 1000 to 2000 vehicles per year, and in 2025 it will be scaled up to 4000 to 7000 vehicles. The delivery will have to officially begin before the Q2 of 2023.

The vehicles will be built at Lucid's Arizona plant and at a future factory that Lucid plans to build in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government’s order is inorganically boosting Lucid’s production. However, it's worth noting that Lucid's stock had dropped quite a bit since its late 2021 highs—down almost 70%.

"Delivering up to 100,000 Lucid electric vehicles in Saudi Arabia represents another pivotal moment in our acceleration of sustainable transportation worldwide," said Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s CEO and CTO.

"We are delighted to be supporting Saudi Arabia in achieving its sustainability goals and net-zero ambitions, as outlined by Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, by bringing our advanced luxury EVs to Saudi Arabia," he added.

The EV carmaker Lucid has been delivering the Air sedan for a relatively short period of time but has recently revised its 2022 production outlook downward, slashing it from 20,000 sedans down to a range between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles, citing the chip shortage and other component-related pressures.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) invested $1 billion into Lucid Motors in 2018 when it was still privately held. The investment agreement came just six weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share and had secured the proper funding to make the leap.