Electric-car maker to use part of $1B from Saudi Arabia for Arizona plant

PHOENIX — An electric-car maker that has plans to build a factory outside Phoenix has received an injection of $1 billion from Saudi Arabia.

Lucid Motors made the announcement Monday, just weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the kingdom was helping him take his company private.

The $700 million factory in Casa Grande has been tapped to manufacture the Air vehicle, up to 130,000 of them a year by 2022.

“The company plans to use the funding to complete engineering development and testing of the Lucid Air, construct its factory in Arizona, enter production for the Lucid Air to begin the global rollout of the company’s retail strategy starting in North America,” the Saudi Public Investment Fund said in a statement.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted out the deal was a “major win.”

Major win for Pinal County →
“Lucid plans to use the funding to complete engineering development and testing of the Lucid Air and construct its factory in Casa Grande, Arizona.” https://t.co/IOrSwy9deq

— Governor Doug Ducey (@dougducey) September 17, 2018

The company has scheduled the line’s launch for 2020.

Deposits were already being made on the car, will have a range of more than 400 miles, priced at $52,500. Upgraded versions could go as high as $100,000.

In April 2017, Peter Rawlinson, chief technology officer for Lucid, said that they had raised $131 million in funding for the plant and were searching for more help with cost.

The plant will be built in three phases; after the first phase has been completed, the facility was expected to produce about 10,000 cars the first year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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