- Lucid will deliver Saudi-made EVs to Europe starting in 2027.
- The manufacturer is currently expanding its AMP-2 factory in Saudi Arabia, which will be done in 2026.
- Lucid's annual sales target is set at 150,000 units, which likely includes the yet-to-be-revealed midsize models.
Lucid has a strong connection to Saudi Arabia through the country's public investment fund (PIF), which holds a 64% controlling stake in the automaker. Now, Lucid is in the process of adding an expansion to its AMP-2 manufacturing facility in the desert kingdom, which should be ready next year. This new addition to the plant will supply Lucid vehicles for markets outside North America, including Europe and some Asian markets.
The manufacturer already assembles the Air for the local and other nearby markets in Saudi Arabia, and it will soon also begin building the Gravity SUV there. The current facility's production capacity is limited, but it will be greatly increased once the expansion is finished. Lucid says the expanded plant will be able to produce 150,000 vehicles per year, enough to satisfy even more distant markets, such as Europe and Asia (not including China).
The current Lucid facility in Saudi Arabia just assembles kits sent from the United States. However, once the new part of the plant is completed, it will be able to begin manufacturing parts for the vehicles, so not everything will have to be shipped from the other side of the world. The Saudi government is also looking to bring a third-party battery manufacturer into the area to supply the Lucid plant.
Lucid will become Saudi Arabia’s only domestic automaker in a country that imports all vehicles. According to Bloomberg, Saudi Arabia could even introduce U.S.-style import tariffs to encourage the locals to buy local. Lucid’s interim CEO after Peter Rawlinson stepped down, Mark Winterhoff, is a proponent of import tariffs because he believes they would help the fledgling local car industry.
Winterhoff added that “It doesn’t mean that this has to go on forever, but in order to have that kind of change in the market, you need to support local players in the beginning.” That sounds a lot like the rhetoric practiced by the current U.S. President, whose on-again, off-again import tariffs are already reshaping the global economy.
Saudi Arabia probably may not impose tariffs, since it’s so heavily dependent on imports, but the fact that this is even being discussed shows how much and how quickly things are changing on a global level. Who would have thought, even a few years ago, that we would be buying American-designed and Saudi-built electric vehicles in Europe?
By 2027, Lucid will be a bit late to the party in Europe, where Chinese EV manufacturers are already present and expanding. We've tried cars from Zeekr and BYD, and they’re definitely competitive with the cars Europeans typically buy. They're already capitalizing on Tesla’s falling out of favor with buyers on the continent, offering direct competitors to the bestselling Model Y and Model 3.
Lucid, which started the year well, makes some rather compelling cars that align with the values that Euro buyers look for in a premium EV, although they’re quite expensive. Even the entry-level Air Pure costs around €85,000 ($93,000) in Germany, which is considerably more than what it costs in the U.S., where you can get one for around $70,000.
The company already sells vehicles in Europe through a currently very limited number of showrooms. Only a few hundred were sold across the 15 countries where the manufacturer is currently present. Demand should grow once the manufacturer launches its more affordable midsize models. They will likely roll out of both its Casa Grande, Arizona, home factory and the newly expanded plant in Saudi Arabia.
