The Saudi-backed electric car maker Lucid is still in discussions with the Kingdom’s government over where to build a factory in the country. The company’s chairman Andrew Liveris said that with the first of his firm’s cars being handed over to customers in the US, he was now focusing on the Middle East operation. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund poured $1 billion into the company in April 2019 - giving it a 67 per cent stake in the firm. In September 2021, it was reported that production in the Kingdom would begin by 2024, but that timeline has been extended to up to 2026. Speaking to Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Liveris said: “Now that we are successfully producing and selling cars in the U.S., our attention is turning to this factory here.” He added that among the details to be ironed out include how much of the project will be owned by Lucid and how much by its partners. Bloomberg reported that Jeddah and NEOM are two sites under consideration for the factory.