Electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors plans to build a factory in Saudi Arabia by 2025 or 2026 as it seeks to ramp up production to capitalise on demand for electric cars, the company’s chairman said.
“Now that we are successfully producing and selling cars in the US, our attention is turning to this factory here,” Andrew Liveris told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday during a mining conference in Riyadh.
The California-based company, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is negotiating the details with ministries in the kingdom.
The National was the first to report in September about Lucid's plans to enter the Middle East market and that it was also considering plans to set up a manufacturing plant in the kingdom.
Lucid was founded in 2007 under the name Atieva and was initially focused on building EV batteries. In 2016, it rebranded as Lucid Motors, moved away from being a supplier and started to develop a luxury sedan to rival Tesla.
In 2018, the PIF invested more than $1 billion in Lucid to acquire a substantial stake, helping it to accelerate its manufacturing plans.
The company also became the first EV start-up to go public through a special purpose acquisition company after it merged with a blank-cheque company backed by Wall Street dealmaker Michael Klein in July.
Lucid, which makes the $169,000 limited production saloon car, Lucid Air Dream Edition, announced in September that it has started production of its consumer electric cars.
Its three other models include Air Pure ($77,400), Air Touring ($95,000) and Air Grand Touring ($139,000).
However, Lucid's manufacturing has been affected by ongoing supply chain disruptions, Mr Liveris said.
“We’ll have a lot more to say to the market about the sorts of things we’re seeing in the supply chain … yes, we’re experiencing supply chain issues,” he told Bloomberg Television.
Carmakers, particularly, have been affected by the Covid-induced chip shortage and supply chain disruptions have halted production in factories across the world.
Companies such as Volkswagen, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota and Nissan all said they have been hit by the shortage and have been forced to delay production of some models to keep other factories running.
The global semiconductor shortage is expected to worsen to such an extent that it will drive about 50 per cent of the top 10 carmakers to design and produce their own chips by 2025, research firm Gartner predicted.
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
La Mer lowdown
La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
