Crown Prince Launches Ceer EXOBOT; Carmaker Seen Adding Over 30 Billion Riyals to GDP by 2034
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who chairs the Public Investment Fund, has launched EXOBOT, the flagship electric vehicles from Ceer, Saudi Arabia’s national automotive company, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday. The EXOBOT sedan and sport utility vehicle are the first of a planned portfolio of seven models to be launched over the next five years, including midsize and compact cars with a range of propulsion options.
The vehicles were designed and engineered locally and will be manufactured at the Ceer Manufacturing Complex, which the agency describes as the largest automotive production facility in the Middle East. The Crown Prince said the launch was another step in building a sustainable industrial ecosystem, and that it further enables the automotive sector as a key driver of economic growth by attracting investment, empowering national talent and expanding the private sector’s role, positioning the kingdom to become a leading regional and global hub for the industry.
Ceer’s projected contribution by 2034
By 2034, Ceer is projected to contribute more than 30 billion riyals, or 8 billion dollars, to Saudi GDP, and more than 80 billion riyals, or 21 billion dollars, to improving the trade balance, and to create direct and indirect jobs. The release gives no figure for jobs and does not say whether either amount is annual or cumulative.
| Projection | Riyals | Dollars | Horizon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contribution to GDP | over 30bn | over $8bn | by 2034 |
| Trade balance improvement | over 80bn | over $21bn | by 2034 |
Saudi Press Agency, 21 September 2026. The dollar figures are as published; at the riyal’s peg of 3.75 per dollar, 80 billion riyals is 21.3 billion dollars on our calculation.
The launch comes four years after the fund set up Ceer in 2022, and eight years before the 2034 horizon for its projections.
Why it matters: Ceer’s projected contribution sits on the non-oil side of the economy, which is the side that grew in the second quarter. In its detailed second-quarter accounts, reported by The Edge on 8 September, the General Authority for Statistics put the year-on-year fall in real GDP at 4.7 percent, with oil activities down 24.8 percent and non-oil activities up 0.9 percent. The release frames Ceer as part of the fund’s mandate to diversify the economy, and the 2034 projections put numbers on Ceer’s expected contribution to output and to the trade balance.
Outlook: the next markers are the rollout schedule for the remaining models in the seven-model portfolio and the first production, sales and export figures from the Ceer Manufacturing Complex, none of which the release gives. Production and sales will be the first test of the GDP projection, and exports together with any fall in vehicle imports the test of the trade balance projection.
Sources: Saudi Press Agency, General Authority for Statistics, The Edge.
