Saudi crown prince launches electric car company
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants the oil-rich kingdom to focus more on green technology as he seeks to diversify the economy.
Saudi Arabia will soon have a domestic electric vehicle maker.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched Ceer, which will be the first electric vehicle manufacturer in the kingdom. Ceer will be a joint venture between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the Taiwanese electronics company Foxconn. It aims to attract $150 million in foreign investment, create 30,000 jobs and contribute $8 billion to Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2034. Ceer will use technology from German luxury car maker BMW. The endeavor is in line with Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification and carbon reduction goals per the Vision 2030 initiative, the Public Investment Fund said in a statement Thursday.
“We are igniting a new industry and an ecosystem that attracts international and local investments, creates job opportunities for local talent, enables the private sector, and contributes to increasing Saudi Arabia’s GDP over the next decade,” said Salman, who also heads the country’s Public Investment Fund.
Why it matters: Ceer demonstrates the latest Saudi effort to rebrand the country from a major oil producer into a tech-savvy and climate-friendly country. In October, the Public Investment Fund issued green bonds, which are financial instruments used to finance environmentally friendly projects. Earlier the same month, the sovereign wealth fund launched a $1.5 billion sustainability fund to finance green projects.
