Saudi Arabia's Ceer Unveils Exobot Flagship EVs

Saudi Arabia's first car brand Ceer has revealed its Exobot electric SUV and sedan, launching a seven-model plan under the Vision 2030 programme.

Ceer, Saudi Arabia's first homegrown car brand, unveiled its flagship Exobot electric SUV and sedan on Monday, September 21, 2026, at an event led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who chairs the Public Investment Fund (PIF) that co-owns the company with Foxconn. The two E-segment flagships are the first of a planned seven-model portfolio to roll out over the next five years, spanning compact to midsize vehicles. Ceer positions the Exobot pair as high-performance luxury flagships intended to ignite interest in EVs in a Saudi market where electric cars are only about 3% of annual sales of just over 800,000 vehicles, according to Autocar.

The Exobot styling was reportedly driven directly from the top: Ceer boss James DeLuca told Autocar that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushed the board's demand to 'not show us what the rest of the world is doing' but instead build something new and unique. Design chief Rob Melville came from McLaren. Both cars wear a wedge shape, a glass roof claimed to be the largest on any current car, gullwing doors with no B-pillars, and light bars with 32 elements — a nod to Saudi Arabia's 1932 unification. Autocar reports the cars also use steer-by-wire, 'excitors' in place of speakers, 'halo cooling', and a heat-reflecting silver windscreen coating.

The sedan reaches up to 670 km (416 miles) NEDC. Autojosh likewise credits both cars with 850 hp and 2.6 seconds for the sedan, while giving the SUV a 2.9-second sprint. Autocar separately reports that top-spec versions will offer more than 1100bhp, 0-62mph in 2.1 seconds, launch control and a drift mode, with Rimac supplying the rear motor and Hyundai Transys the front motors.

The Exobots are built at the Ceer Manufacturing Complex in King Abdullah Economic City on the kingdom's west coast, which Ceer calls the largest automotive production facility in the Middle East. The site anchors a wider hub that includes PIF-owned Lucid's factory and supplier firms such as Hyundai Transys, alongside five global tier-one suppliers. According to AGBI, Ceer signed 16 commercial deals worth more than SAR 3.7 billion in February and targets 45% local content by 2034. By 2034 the company is projected to add more than SAR 30 billion ($8 billion) to Saudi GDP and over SAR 80 billion to the trade balance.

Rather than develop everything in-house, Ceer leans on established partners: joint-venture shareholder Foxconn — the iPhone manufacturer expanding into EVs — supplies the platform and electrical architecture, while BMW provides component technology under an agreement DeLuca says draws on the German firm's century of engineering experience. In June 2024 Ceer signed an SAR 8.2 billion contract with South Korea's Hyundai Transys for electric drive systems, and later a deal with Croatia's Rimac for its high-performance unit. DeLuca told Autocar the team draws on experts from 45 countries, and Electrek notes prototypes were spied testing in Europe earlier this year looking like a shrunken Tesla Cybertruck.

According to Autocar, prototype work is largely complete, with series production set to start in January 2027 and customer deliveries from that March — later than the late-2026 first-vehicle target CEO James DeLuca gave in February 2025, as reported by AGBI. Prices and commercial launch dates have not been announced. Five more models follow, including D-segment saloon, SUV and coupé-SUV variants next year and compact models in 2028, built to be homologable globally even though the business plan through 2040 focuses on Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. DeLuca also says the platform can accept multiple powertrains, leaving the door open to plug-in hybrids or range extenders.