Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Saudi’s Maaden unit strikes deal with EV maker Lucid

By Pramod Kumar
Lucid's factory in Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Economic City will have the capacity to assemble 5,000 vehicles per annum in the first phase Lucid
Lucid's factory in Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Economic City.

A subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has signed an agreement to supply aluminium sheets to US electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors.

Maaden Rolling Company signed the deal with Lucid – which is 60.2 percent owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – during the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh.

The deal will last three years, Maaden said in a post on the messaging platform X. 

Maaden Rolling Company has a capacity of 460,000 tonnes per year and currently produces sheets for the automotive industry.

Lucid’s global vice president, Faisal Sultan, said in December 2023 that the company had assembled 800 cars in its Saudi factory, which became operational in September last year. 

The Californian electric vehicle (EV) maker expects to manufacture up to 155,000 EVs per year at the facility, the company said in its second-quarter 2023 earnings release.

The facility’s initial capacity stands at 5,000 EVs a year after the Saudi government agreed to buy up to 100,000 Lucid units over the next 10 years.

Latest articles

SJP's chief investment officer Justin Onuekwusi, second from right, at the event in Dubai. Other speakers included, from left, Ben Powell of the BlackRock Investment Institute, Angelina Lai of SJP Asia and Middle East, and Robert Willock of the Economist Intelligence Unit

Wealth manager seeks Gulf growth despite setbacks in UK

St James’s Place, the UK’s largest wealth manager, plans to target local customers to expand its one-year-old Gulf operation as it seeks to brush off reputational setbacks in its home market. In February SJP disclosed that it had set aside more than $500 million for potential client refunds after an increase in complaints about its […]

A FlyDubai Boeing 737 Max. The airline's CEO says Boeing is 'fantastic' but he has sent inspectors to the manufacturer's facilities

Boeing’s ‘negative issues’ are top concern for FlyDubai CEO

Escalating regional tensions and recent floods in Dubai have “not especially” affected FlyDubai’s operations, but the low-cost airline’s chief executive said he was closely monitoring US plane maker Boeing’s response to a string of safety scandals.  “We are definitely very concerned about the delays and all the negative issues that are in the pipeline or […]

A KFC outlet in a Dubai mall. It accounts for about two-thirds of Americana's sales, but has been hit by boycotts

Americana profit tumbles as Gaza boycotts hit sales

Americana Restaurants International’s revenue and profit fell again in the first quarter of this year as Mena diners continue to shun western brands in protest at the conflict in Gaza. Americana, which runs 2,456 fast-food outlets across the region, reported a 16.3 percent reduction in revenues year on year, to $493.5 million.  Net profit fell […]

Operators on a Saudi Aramco onshore rig. The world’s biggest crude exporter currently produces around nine million barrels of oil per day

Aramco increases dividend payouts despite falling profit

Aramco will distribute higher dividends to its investors and the government, despite a drop in profit in the first quarter of this year. The state-owned energy major will pay a $31 billion dividend in the first quarter as it continues to fuel Saudi Arabia’s budget and spending on giga-projects designed to diversify the kingdom’s economy […]