Saudi Arabia and Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group are in talks to form a joint venture to make electric vehicles, a move that could help accelerate plans by the oil-dependent kingdom to diversify its economy, according to people familiar with the matter.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which manages about $450 billion of assets, will create a new entity named Velocity to be the majority stakeholder of the joint venture, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the effort is not yet public. Foxconn will provide software, electronics and the electrical architecture for the new EVs and will be a minority stakeholder in the collaboration, according to one of people. The arrangement will help the country gain experience in manufacturing cars, another person said.
