Tesla to launch in Saudi Arabia as Musk, kingdom mend relations
Tesla’s launch event in Riyadh, scheduled for April 10, will display its EVs and products powered by solar energy
Tesla will start sales in Saudi Arabia next month, the electric carmaker said on its website.
Tesla trades in other Middle Eastern countries, but not in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf region’s largest market.
Trump said this month he would likely make his first trip abroad to Saudi Arabia, after asking the kingdom in January to spend upwards of $1tn in the US economy, over four years, including military purchases.
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Tesla’s launch event in Riyadh, scheduled for April 10, will display its EVs and products powered by solar energy.
The launch comes as Tesla has seen EV sales slump in Europe, blamed on Musk’s support for far right politicians, and the brand has been targeted by protesters in the United States over his spearheading of sweeping cuts to the federal government.
In Saudi Arabia, EV sales have been slow, with a 2024 report from consultants PwC putting them at just 1 per cent of all car sales.
A month after the feud with Musk went public, the PIF announced a $1bn-plus investment in Lucid, becoming the majority investor in one of the EV startups looking to challenge Tesla.
The $925bn PIF has also invested in a domestic EV brand that is yet to launch called Ceer.
Yet large gas guzzling vehicles remain the norm on Saudi roads where fuel is cheap and EV charging infrastructure remains a rarity, making traversing its long desert roads almost impossible in an EV.
Warming ties
In one of the first signs of improving relations, Musk appeared alongside Rumayyan and Trump in ringside seats at a UFC mixed-martial arts match in New York in November.
A few weeks earlier, Musk had made a surprise appearance at Riyadh’s Future Investment Initiative summit via video link.
Tesla’s sales in Europe are down 42.6 per cent so far this year, data showed on Tuesday, even as demand for EVs rises.
Activists across the US have staged so-called “Tesla Takedown” demonstrations over Musk’s role leading the Department of Government Efficiency, which has cut thousands of jobs, frozen foreign aid and cancelled thousands of programmes and contracts.
