Establishing the first car assembly plant in Saudi Arabia

According to Arabia Net, Al-Hariri expected to start construction of the first car assembly plant in the second quarter, while manufacturing will start in 2023.

Al-Hariri added that 2020 is a critical year in the automotive sector, where the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khareef oversees this file, noting that negotiations are currently taking place with two of the largest international companies, according to the Saudi newspaper Makkah.

Al Hariri said on the sidelines of the First Industrial Council of Jeddah that the Jeddah Chamber launched that the auto industry is complex and the challenge in the auto industry is the supply chain and we do not want to assemble cars only, but in the manufacture of components that require a strategy to activate all other industries such as iron, aluminum, plastic, rubber tires and glass industries, And it will open in the field many doors for investment in other sectors, which is thus a pivotal industry from this standpoint, and the auto industry will open about 6 other clusters within the supply chain of the automotive industry.

He added, in the beginnings, a large part of the assembly will be relied upon, and after these companies harmonize in the assembly period of two to two and a half years, other factories such as aluminum will be activated in coordination with the program of developing the industry and logistics services, and there are discussions with large iron companies in the Kingdom to start In the work of sheet metal to enable the pressing process, which would raise the local content in the automotive industry to more than 60%.

He continued, the first permit for assembly will be granted to car companies in the Kingdom during the current quarter or the next quarter, and we plan to start construction of factories during the first quarter or the next quarter to be the beginning of manufacturing during 2023, after which the other work that includes manufacturing and compression begins, as it is part of the agreement And there is very strong negotiation with two of the largest auto companies in the world.

Al Hariri explained that the biggest challenges in the automotive industry is the formation of the supply chain and the global car companies do not manufacture all materials but rather through suppliers to parts throughout the world and part of the difficult process in the auto industry is to convince the global supply chain to invest with the car company in the Kingdom, which is an opportunity Investors in the Kingdom to enter into these investments.

He pointed out that the auto industry is not an easy industry, as it requires continuous research and development and experiments, and he said we want to start from where others ended with a global manufacturer that has the ability to manufacture three lines, which are the usual combustion engines, electric cars and hydrogen cars, and we do not want to attract companies Cars do not work on all lines, as 80% of the cars on the market are normal cars whose engines run in combustion, and if we start with the supply chain then the transition to other lines will come with a local ...