saudi

Ceer Motors, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has launched its first electric vehicles

The Saudia Arabia automaker Ceer has finally unveiled its much-anticipated flagship EVs, the new EXOBOT sedan and EVs.

The new carmaker is a joint venture between the Saudi PIF and Foxconn.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is mostly known for its global dominance over petroleum production and oil reserves - not necessarily cars and auto manufacturing, and certainly not electric vehicle production. So it was a little surprising on Monday when a Saudi startup called Ceer unveiled a pair of hyper-angular, spaceship-like EVs, with plans to launch an additional five models by 2030. The Exobot (yes, that's the real name) sedan and SUV are expected to go on sale in Saudi Arabia starting in 2027. The ultra-futuristic designs scream Tron , Blade Runner , and every other sci-fi movie you've seen - and then some. The gullwing doors are ripped s … Read the full story at The Verge.

Ceer provided flights from Detroit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and accommodation so Ars could visit the factory. Ars does not accept paid editorial content. KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY, Saudi Arabia—It may come as a surprise to some, but Saudi Arabia has never had a domestic automaker. That changes with Ceer. A joint venture between the country’s Public Investment Fund and Foxconn, it’s the Kingdom’s first home-grown automaker and a significant part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy away from oil production and bring technological innovation locally by the end of the decade. Ceer in Arabic means to “drive forward,” and this forward-looking approach applies to the vehicle lineup. The flagship vehicles you see here—the Exobot sedan and SUV—are demonstrations of what the company is capable of and the vision it sees for future vehicles in the portfolio. It plans to have seven new cars in its portfolio by 2030—some of which will be hybrids—and while that doesn’t currently include sales outside the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region, Ceer says it's building a competitive, world-class product and that if the demand is there, expansion is possible. Read full article Comments

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday approved Paramount Skydance's plan to sell large equity stakes to the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Under US law , companies with licenses to run broadcast stations need FCC approval to have direct or indirect foreign ownership exceeding 25 percent of the company's stock. Paramount says its indirect foreign ownership will reach 49.5 percent after it receives investments from the sovereign wealth funds and filed a petition asking the FCC to waive the foreign ownership limit. Paramount, the owner of CBS, holds FCC licenses for the 28 local CBS stations that it owns and operates. Paramount is buying Warner Bros. Discovery in a $111 billion deal that is being partially financed with foreign investment but hasn't completed the acquisition because US states filed a lawsuit that aims to block the merger. Trump's Department of Justice approved the merger. Read full article Comments