Same country that gave Lucid $3 billion
There is a Lucid Assembly plant in KSA too.
The Middle East not even remotely ready for EVs the structure in even the most advanced countries like Dubai is still too scarce.
Based Saudi Arabia
What does a Saudi consider cheap, a 10 year old Bentley?
They’re just trying to keep people hooked on their oil for as long as they can I’m guessing
Well it is the basis of their entire economy
There is also slavery but this part is going great
We’re only just scratching the surface here if we’re being honest
Not only their economy but their global power
EV company lol
“EVs are being favoured in terms of subsidies and regulatory advantage especially in regions like Africa so what we are working on is to increase internal combustion engine adoptions.”
I doubt Chinese automakers would like to see this happen, as China and their companies invest Africa so much, most Africa countries have good relationship with China.
If Saudi Arabia does that, China might’t happy for that because it would affect Chinese EV sales and profits.
Don’t forget that China investing some number in Saudi Arabia in recent. If Saudi wants to work with China, they should rethink about it.
I totally get your logic here, but I think that African countries are already unlikely to adopt EVs just on infrastructure alone…
The linked article mentions how SA is trying to install massive ships with gas power plants off the African coasts. If that’s the current state of electricity access, nobody who depends on a vehicle for their safety or livelihood is going to bring an EV into the African interior (for now).
So then, why is SA pushing more gas cars in the first place? That’s already what’s there - and given that many of these ICE cars are older imports with worse fuel economy, why try to replace them with newer ICE cars that might have to meet tighter emissions regulations and ultimately burn less fuel?
Whatever your take on ICE/EV adoption, this plan just seems like it never went beyond the marketing hype phase and certainly didn’t get a feasibility study 🤷
On the flip side, if the infrastructure royally sucks, I can at least install some solar panels on my rooftop.
Installing an oil well in my backyard… harder.
So then, why is SA pushing more gas cars in the first place? That’s already what’s there - and given that many of these ICE cars are older imports with worse fuel economy, why try to replace them with newer ICE cars that might have to meet tighter emissions regulations and ultimately burn less fuel?
International politics are against Africans getting used cars. See, for example, the UN Project of Safer and Cleaner Used Vehicles for Africa, which aims to prevent the import of vehicles more than 5 years old to Africa.
Really good point! I appreciate you linking that policy memo, I had never seen that!
That being said, I agree with another commenter that this policy seems to be demanding unreasonably expensive standards for cars on areas that have been making very clear which types of vehicles they prefer (that is, ones they can afford to purchase and maintain within their region/community). But this behavior is not new among Western countries - we sure love telling developing countries that they can’t use the low-cost, high-polluting tech we were using 50 years ago to jumpstart our own modern economies.
Well thats some delusional shit right there. Im all for the environment, but strategies like that are doomed to fail on premise and if implemented could cause great harm to the african transport culture and thus effect the livelihood of the people.
Reason: they dont have the equipment or support to maintain such cars. For cheap cars that are imported even direct injection diesels are found to be undesirable, atleast going by the importers “buying” -ads on Facebook. Ffs
So much international environmental action translates into blocking developing nations from following the same path developed nations did, but you don’t see developed nations paying for alternative more difficult and untested paths.
Giving Africa cheaper cars is better for Africa. If anyone wants anything else they should put their money where their mouth is.
Until now it didn’t occur to me that EV’s will make Saudi Arabia go from a powerhouse rich nation, to being as poor as Iran in less than 50 years
eh that’s a gross over exaggeration. their investments are so diversified that they will never not be absurdly wealthy
to being as poor as Iran
real
I bet we’re going to start seeing new cars offered with a certain amount of years/miles worth of gas as an incentive
They would be better off making it so petrol was £1 a litre and diesel was 80p a litre…electric cars wouldn’t stand a chance then
Nah, copying the HP printer+ink model is much better for them. Make ICE cars dirt cheap, almost free and then charge an arm and a leg for the fuel.
good, its criminal that “cheap” cars all but disappeared. 90% of people don’t need a $30K car to commute in
the cheapest car right now is the $17,790(msrp + destination) Mitsubishi Mirage and that just feels extremely overpriced for the segment.
6 years ago, the 2017 Honda Fit started at $17,780 and that is 100x the car that the Mirage is.
17780 in 2017 is worth 22526 in today’s money. A Toyota Corolla Cross is 23610 in today’s money. A Honda HR-V is 24100 in today’s money. Kia Soul and Hyundai Venue are both 20k flat.
Unfortunately the key problem is inflation. Car prices are still relatively consistent.
They only disappeared in North America. The rest of the world still has cheap cars under $20k
doesn’t the saudis have a stake in lucid or sm? MBS be like I play both sides so that I always come out on top
This is good. Poor people benefit when stuff is cheap.
No this is bad, because it’s directly intended to increase consumption of gasoline, which is the opposite of what we should be doing.
Your country should pay the rest of the world for all the gasoline it consumed before they get to block poor countries who have barely consumed any, and they need it to improve their lives.
Then do your part by scrapping your gas guzzling audi and start taking the bus.
Is ad hominem your plan here or do you not understand why it’s bad to increase fossil fuel use when we need to be reducing it ASAP? I don’t drive that much, and I try to drive efficiently when I do. I also advocate for moving away from car centricity because of how wasteful it is. Do you?
This is literally a supplier wanting to foster demand for their product regardless of the external impact (in this case, additional environmental pollution all for the sake of profit). This is not something to be celebrated.
Saudi Arabia doesn’t like EVs…hmm…I wonder why…🤔
More reason to switch to EVs now. Thanks 👍🏻
