Saudi-made car has a long way to go

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has given Saudi and Malaysian businesses a preliminary license to study the feasibility of building a Saudi-made car.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ministry stated that the company planning to set up a SR7.5 billion automotive manufacturing plant has to undergo further assessment before it can acquire a location and get government support.
The preliminary license for the Shahid automotive manufacturing facility would not allow the manufacturer to collect money from the public, the statement added.
The ministry wants to develop the automotive industry but this has to be done after careful coordination between government and the private sector, the statement said.
A thorough assessment is needed before government makes its incentives available for industrial projects, the statement said.
The ministry's advisory comes after Saudi and Malaysian businesses signed an agreement here on Tuesday to produce a Saudi-made vehicle called Meeya by 2017.
The plan is to set up a factory to produce the vehicle in Dammam, with an eventual output of 300,000 cars a year, said Rashed Othman Jawhar, chairman of the Saudi Malaysian Industrial Development Holding Company.
He said the factory would create 2,000 jobs. Major vehicle manufacturing firms from Malaysia, China, Germany, Japan and Korea are involved in the project, said Jawhar.
He said the factory would start producing 50,000 cars in the first 36 months. It would produce three types of vehicles costing between SR45,000 and SR120,000, with the possibility of a price reduction of up to 50 percent if government supports the project with land and other facilities.