Where is this going?
This is going to a place where Saudi Arabia is having another go at making a homegrown car brand, and it’s called Ceer. Based in King Abdullah Economic City (a vast planned city, kind of like a gigantic business park with houses too on Saudi’s west coast), Ceer is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (where all your petrol money goes, basically — it’s worth an estimated $900 billion) and has technology supplied by Taiwanese car maker Foxconn.
What is Ceer going to make?
Right now, Ceer is building a factory, but it has shown two possible production models, both with the Exobot name. There’s a wedge-shaped coupe, which looks wedgier than anything that’s been seen since the Bologna motor shows of the 1970s, and a matching, taller SUV model, both with large gullwing doors — named ‘Shahin’ doors, after the wing shape of the Shahin falcon. Both cars get some interesting design details, such as LED lights with 32 elements, because Saudi Arabia became a unified country for the first time in 1932.
What engines do these Ceer cars have?
Ah, that’s the point — they don’t. Both these Ceer Exobot cars are fully electric, which may sound odd when you consider quite how much oil Saudi Arabia is floating on, but even the Saudis have recognised that we can’t go on burning the stuff forever, and Ceer is part of a wider government strategy to start pivoting the Saudi economy away from oil dependence. Both models also get steer-by-wire controls, and the interiors feature an interesting mix of predictable big screens — a coast-to-coast instrument screen of no less than 48 inches across, stretching the width of the cabin, plus a 10.4-inch main infotainment screen and screens for those in the back — plus physical buttons. Given that Saudi Arabia gets pretty warm, the cars also get high-tech cabin cooling that can reduce the interior temp from 65°C to 32°C within ten minutes, along with special foils for the windscreen to reflect heat.
OK, but how far do they go on a charge?
Pretty far, according to Ceer’s official figures. Both models get a 112kWh battery, along with a tri-motor setup that produces 850hp and 1,100Nm of torque. The Exobot coupe accelerates from 0-100 km/h in just 2.4 seconds, while the Exobot SUV takes 2.9 seconds. Official ranges are 560km for the Exobot SUV and 670km for the coupe (which Ceer actually calls a ‘sedan’). There’s also 800-volt charging for quick sub-30-minute charging top-ups. Ceer also mentions a ‘highest specification’ Exobot with 1,111hp and 1,500Nm of torque that, for the ‘sedan’, pulls the 0-100 km/h time down to 2.1 seconds with a top speed of 250km/h. There’s also what Ceer calls a ‘seamless AI experience’ in the cabin, and a claimed level of autonomous driving capability.
When can I buy one?
That’s still TBC, although Ceer claims that it will have a portfolio of seven models on sale by 2030. We wonder if Dany Bahar is involved?
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