Saudi Arabia's first electric vehicle brand bets on radical design and consolidated engineering to enter the global market
Ceer, Saudi Arabia’s first automotive brand, has started road tests of its first electric vehicle, a model that breaks with conservative design standards to try to insert the country on the global map of electromobility. The prototype, recently spotted in camouflage, combines a retrofuturistic aesthetic with a heavyweight technological package, licensed by giants such as BMW, Rimac and Hyundai.
A joint venture between Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Foxconn, the manufacturer is one of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s bets to diversify the kingdom’s economy, traditionally dependent on oil. Production will be concentrated in King Abdullah Economic City, with a mission to meet a local demand historically skewed toward large combustion SUVs.
The visual is the project’s calling card. Images released by the Japanese website Response show a car with an aggressive wedge shape, evoking concepts from the 1970s and the controversial Tesla Cybertruck. Ceer promises to equip the model with the “largest windshield in the world”, a feature suggested by the flat glass that extends almost to the top of the cabin, favoring aerodynamics. Access to the interior is through doors with vertical opening, “gull wing” style, reinforcing the appeal of exclusivity.
To make the project feasible in record time, the brand chose not to develop everything from scratch. The engineering is based on components licensed from BMW, while the propulsion system is a hybrid of high-end suppliers: Hyundai Transys delivers the “three-in-one” electric system for entry-level versions, and Croatian Rimac is expected to provide the high-performance packages for the more powerful variants.
The strategy of uniting disruptive design with a premium engineering “patchwork” aims to accelerate Saudi Arabia’s entry into a saturated market, skipping development steps that would take years.
