Lucid to build Saudi Arabia electric vehicle factory by 2026: Chairman

Lucid to build Saudi Arabia electric vehicle factory by 2026: Chairman

Lucid Group Inc. intends to build an electric-vehicle factory in Saudi Arabia by 2025 or 2026 and is negotiating details with ministries in the Kingdom.

“Now that we are successfully producing and selling cars in the US, our attention is turning to this factory here,” Lucid Chairman Andrew Liveris told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday at a mining conference in Riyadh. Specifics being worked out include ownership percentages for Lucid and partners on the project he said.

The maker of the $169,000 Air sedan has been in talks with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to build an EV plant potentially near the Red Sea city of Jeddah, people familiar with the matter have said. The Public Investment Fund, which is Lucid’s largest shareholder, would provide much of the money for the site at the King Abdullah Economic City, according to the people, who asked not be named because the discussions are private. The PIF and Lucid have also considered a possible site in Neom, a new city being developed in the northwest of Saudi Arabia.

Lucid shares slipped 0.3 percent to $45.33 as of 9 a.m. Wednesday in New York, before the start of regular trading.

Liveris, the former chairman and chief executive officer of