Saudi's PIF invests more than $1 billion in electric carmaker Lucid Motors | Reuters

Saudi's PIF invests more than $1 billion in electric carmaker Lucid Motors | Reuters:

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has agreed to invest more than $1 billion in Lucid Motors, adding to the emerging competition facing U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA.O).

The funding will enable Silicon Valley-based Lucid to achieve the commercial launch of its Lucid Air electric vehicle in 2020, PIF said as it announced the deal on Monday, joining Daimler-owned (DAIGn.DE) Mercedes, BMW (BMWG.DE) and Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) Audi and Porsche divisions in the battle for dominance in the market for premium battery cars.

The deal comes only a few weeks after Tesla founder Elon Musk said the Saudi sovereign wealth fund could help him to take his company private. Shares in Tesla initially dropped 2.2 percent on Monday’s announcement before recovering to positive territory.