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Ceer Exobot Debuts as Saudi Arabia's First Production EV Under BMW Technology License
ReCeer Exobot Debuts as Saudi Arabia's First Production EV Under BMW Technology License
Ceer unveiled the Exobot sedan and SUV, the first production vehicles from Saudi Arabia's national car brand, built with a BMW technology license, Rimac and Hyundai Transys motors, and Foxconn's platform. Deliveries are now scheduled for March 2027.
Saudi Arabia's first national car brand has revealed its first production vehicles. Ceer debuted the Exobot sedan and SUV this week, two wedge-shaped electric cars that mark the kingdom's entry into vehicle manufacturing and carry a technology license from BMW rather than a supply deal for the drivetrain.
The BMW agreement was signed when Ceer launched in November 2022. Ceer CEO James DeLuca has credited BMW's «100-and-some years of experience» with helping the company's engineering and manufacturing operation get off the ground. The motors come from other suppliers: Rimac Technology builds the rear electric drive unit under a contract signed at Rimac's Croatian headquarters in October 2024, making Ceer the Gulf's first customer for the company, while Hyundai Transys supplies the front motors and Foxconn provides the platform and electrical architecture it also uses for its own Foxtron EVs.
Both Exobots skip a B-pillar, and their gullwing doors are large enough that DeLuca has described each one as «more like a whole body side,» though they still open within a normal door's footprint. Ceer says the glass roof is the largest fitted to any current production car, and the windshield carries a silver coating to reflect heat, a practical specification for a market where summer temperatures pass 40 degrees Celsius. Steer-by-wire replaces the mechanical column, and surface exciters stand in for regular speakers.
The interior's centerpiece is a 48-inch display running from A-pillar to A-pillar along the base of the windshield. Ceer calls it the Digital Horizon Display, and anyone who has sat in a Neue Klasse BMW will recognize the idea, if not the scale: it is a taller, more vertical version of BMW's own Panoramic Vision Display. It remains unclear whether the same supplier provides the technology. The exterior lighting carries its own reference, with light bars made from 32 segments, a nod to 1932, the year Saudi Arabia was unified. Rob Melville, who spent 13 years at McLaren and signed off on the P1, 720S, Senna, and Artura before joining Ceer, designed both cars.
Three electric motors power both First Edition cars, putting out a combined 850 PS (838 hp) and 1,000 Nm (738 lb-ft) of torque. The sedan hits 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds from a standstill; the SUV needs three tenths longer, which still keeps it under the 3-second mark. Ceer is not claiming a range record, but the 112-kWh battery is good for up to 670 km (416 miles) on the NEDC cycle. Both cars run an 800-volt architecture, and DC charging tops out at 250 kW, enough to add meaningful range in a short stop.
The SUV measures 5,016 mm long, 2,101 mm wide, and 1,693 mm tall on a 3,200 mm wheelbase. The sedan is 5,260 mm long, 2,102 mm wide, and 1,428 mm tall, sharing the SUV's wheelbase. Both will launch in a Limited Launch Edition alongside a fully customizable Plus model. Ceer still has not said what either will cost.
Ceer promised customer cars for 2025 when Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the brand in November 2022. Production at King Abdullah Economic City is now set for January 2027, with deliveries starting in March. Both Exobots are homologated for Gulf markets only, and Ceer has five more models planned: a D-segment saloon, SUV, and coupe-SUV in 2027, followed by compact cars in 2028.
The company is aiming for 2,300 employees, 46 percent of them Saudi nationals, 45 percent local content by 2034, and an $8 billion contribution to GDP with 30,000 jobs by the same year. The same fund backing those targets has been quietly scaling back Neom and pulled its money from LIV Golf. The nearest comparison for how that plays out sits in the same industrial park: PIF-backed Lucid opened its plant in King Abdullah Economic City in September 2023 and built 18,378 cars in all of 2025.
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