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Saudi Arabia’s electric car manufacturer Ceer has received bids from contractors for a contract to build an automotive supplier park next to its electric vehicle (EV) production facility in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).

The tender for the contract was issued on 11 February. The bid submission deadline was 21 May.

The contract duration is 24 months from the start date of construction.

US-based engineering firm Arcadis is the project consultant and Pac Project Advisors is the project management consultant.

The automotive supplier park will include production and ancillary building facilities for various suppliers, and provide the infrastructure for the material supply to the Ceer car production plant.

The facilities include:

• Cold stampings, body in white assembly and stamping facility – Shin Young (South Korea)
• Hot stamping, sub-frames and axles subs supply facility – Benteler Group (Austria)
• Facia and exterior trim supply facility – JVIS (US)
• Instrument panel, trims and console supply facility – Forvia (France)
• Seat supplier – Lear Corporation (US)

Ceer project

The Ceer EV manufacturing facility has made significant progress recently. Earlier in May, MEED reported that Beijing-headquartered Metallurgical Corporation of China has won a subcontract for the supply and installation of the steel structures for the production facility at KAEC.

In February, MEED exclusively reported that the client had awarded a SR5bn ($1.3bn) contract to local contractor Modern Building Leaders (MBL) to build its first EV production plant.

The project’s construction will be undertaken in phases at an estimated cost of about SR7bn ($1.87bn).

The production plant will be able to fully design, manufacture and sell a range of vehicles for consumers in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region, including sedans and sports utility vehicles.

Ceer is a joint venture of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth vehicle, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, which trades as Foxconn internationally.

Ceer is the second EV company to set up a production plant at KAEC, as MEED reported in November 2022.

Ceer signed a land purchase agreement worth SR359m ($95.7m) with master developer Emaar, the Economic City, for land at KAEC that will be used to develop manufacturing facilities for EVs.

The 1 million square-metre site is located in Industrial Valley, near King Abdullah Port. Ceer vehicles are scheduled to be available from 2025 onwards.

MEED's April 2024 special report on Saudi Arabia includes:

> GVT & ECONOMY: Saudi Arabia seeks diversification amid regional tensions
> BANKING: Saudi lenders gear up for corporate growth
> UPSTREAM: Aramco spending drawdown to jolt oil projects
> DOWNSTREAM: Master Gas System spending stimulates Saudi downstream sector
> POWER: Riyadh to sustain power spending
> WATER: Growth inevitable for the Saudi water sector
> CONSTRUCTION: Saudi gigaprojects propel construction sector
> TRANSPORT: Saudi Arabia’s transport sector offers prospects