KSA enters JV with Taiwan’s Foxconn on EVs: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has set up Ceer, a joint venture with Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Company (Foxconn) to design, manufacture, and sell EVs in Saudi Arabia, according to a PIF statement last week.

Introducing Ceer: The new company is expected to contribute USD 8 bn to Saudi Arabia’s GDP by 2034, the statement says, netting over USD 150 mn in foreign direct investment and creating up to 30k jobs. The EVs are set to hit the market in 2025.

BMW tech will be included: Ceer will license component technology from BMW to use in the development process, according to the statement. Foxconn will develop the “electrical architecture” of the EVs — which will be designed and manufactured in Saudi Arabia — featuring infotainment, connectivity, and autonomous driving tech, it adds.

It's part of Saudi’s diversification strategy: PIF’s strategic investment in “promising sectors” aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, the statement notes. PIF invested over USD 1 bn in Lucid Motors in 2018, and construction of the company’s Saudi Arabia production plant began in May this year. 80% of all EVs produced by US-based EV manufacturer Lucid Motors will be made in Saudi Arabia by 2030 with 155k EVs produced annually in Saudi Arabia by 2025.

Other MENA countries are working to board the EV train: Turkey unveiled its first locally-produced EV in October, due to go on sale in 3Q 2023 with some 1 mn cars expected to be produced by the end of the decade. Egypt has also been trying for years to bring on board a foreign manufacturer to help state-owned El Nasr Automotive produce an Egyptian EV. There’s clearly appetite: 90% of respondents to Enterprise’s recent EV survey plan to buy an EV within the next 10 years.