Saudi Arabia’s first EV company, Ceer, has secured a site for its USD 96 mn electric vehicle factory, the Saudi Embassy in Egypt said in a statement (pdf). Ceer has secured a 1 mn sqm plot in the King Abdullah Economic Center near King Abdullah Port on Saudi’s west coast. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year.

A refresher on Ceer: The Public Investment Fund (PIF) set up Ceer as a JV with Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group earlier this month to design, manufacture, and sell EVs in Saudi Arabia by 2025. The factory is expected to attract more than USD 150 mn in foreign direct investment and is expected to contribute USD 8 bn to the country’s GDP by 2034, according to a previous statement. Ceer will also license component technology from BMW for use in the development process and EV models will include sedans and 4x4s, the statement adds.

This is not PIF’s first foray into EVs: The sovereign wealth fund previously invested upward of USD 1 bn in US-based luxury EV manufacturer Lucid Motors as part of the country’s economic diversification strategy. The plant — which began construction earlier this year — will produce 155k vehicles annually by 2025 and 80% of Lucid’s EVs will be produced in Saudi Arabia in 2030.