BEVERLY HILLS: Just a few weeks after Lucid Motors opened their first Middle East studio in Riyadh, and four years after the Saudi government made its initial investment of $1 billion, the vehicle manufacturer held the global launch event for their debut line of electric sedans. 

And Saudi support has been influential in bringing the vehicle to fruition, according to Derek Jenkins, senior vice-president of design at Lucid.

“We wouldn't be here today without the support from the Saudi Public Investment Fund,” he said. “It allowed us to really develop our technology, not just at a concept level, but all the way through the production and deliver it to customers worldwide.” 

The Lucid Air has already been named the MotorTrend Car of the Year and honored as one of Time Magazine’s 200 Best Innovations of 2022.

With the full line now launched and more planned for 2023, Lucid is working to stand out in the electric car market.

“It's a relentless obsession on efficiency as well as performance and taking the technology of electric cars to an entirely new level,” Jenkins said.

“The Lucid Air is really just the first step at that. Then we go into our SUV and then more mainstream models later on, and we really want to be at the very pinnacle of the technology.”

As they premiere their cars worldwide, Lucid has an eye on the Middle East, hoping to boost the prominence of electric vehicles in the region. They revealed plans in May for the construction of a world-class Lucid production factory in Saudi Arabia with a capacity of 155,000 electric vehicles. The plant will be located in the King Abdullah Economic City.

Jenkins continued: “The car looks amazing on the road over there. And we have a lot of people, not just from Saudi Arabia but all over the Middle East, that are fans of Lucid, and they're following Lucid very closely. So we're super excited about that.”