Saudi Arabia’s new Exobot EVs make the Cybertruck look normal

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 straight from the Tesla Model X (which, of course, was ripped straight from the DeLorean and a range of other rare production cars). Wild and wedge-shaped, the Exobots seemed built explicitly to draw attention. Which, in an attention-based economy, is probably the right strategy.

The sedan Exobot has low-slung, supercar proportions with a steeply raked windshield that flows seamlessly into the hood. The front fascia features a razor-thin, full-width LED light bar nestled under a sharp, forward-jutting nose, giving it a mean, visor-like glare. The two-tone bodywork and ample windshield immediately had me thinking about the Ferrari Luce, the polarizing electric supercar released earlier this year.

The SUV boasts a blocky, military-meets-cyberpunk stance with high ground clearance and aggressive angles. The whole thing looks thick and armor-plated, with a flat roofline and a distinctive, tactical presence. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this thing bouncing along the Moon’s surface someday. Both were designed by Rob Melville, McLaren’s former design director. But according to Autocar, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had final say on the design.

Ceer is hoping to take advantage of all the upheaval in the global car market, driven largely by the flood of Chinese electric vehicle exports in Asia, Europe, and South America. The US appears on its way to becoming an automotive backwater, with its ahistorical embrace of internal combustion engines and steep tariffs designed to keep Chinese EVs at bay. Why not release a pair of bombastic Batmobiles as a way to distract from the originating country’s extreme oil dependency?

Ceer didn’t exactly emerge from nothing. Rather, it’s a joint venture between Saudi Arabia’s PIF sovereign wealth fund and Foxconn, the Taiwanese company most known for manufacturing the iPhone for Apple. The company will be funded by the kingdom’s vast oil wealth, but with the purpose of building a lineup of vehicles that run on electricity.

Even though it’s distinctly a project built to jump-start the kingdom’s auto industry, Ceer needed to venture outside its borders when hiring for its top roles. Jim DeLuca spent 37 at General Motors, ending up as executive VP for global manufacturing, before joining Ceer as CEO.

“We ⁠wanted to make sure the world could see what Saudi Arabia is capable of,” DeLuca told Reuters.

The kingdom has had mixed luck when it comes to automotive projects. There were plans to build a Jaguar-Land Rover factory there over a decade ago, but to no avail. Toyota declined a deal with the Saudis in 2019. The Public Investment Fund owns a controlling stake in California-based Lucid Motors, which is now building a manufacturing facility in King Abdullah Economic City.

Ceer is taking a diversified approach to its vehicle lineup. While the first models will be electric, subsequent vehicles will be hybrid and combustion-engine, depending on market demands.

That said, starting a car company from scratch is daunting. Just ask Fisker, Lordstown, or Arrival — all of which went bankrupt. Even Lucid, with its support from PIF, is still struggling. We’ll have to see whether Ceer can buck that trend.