Al Futtaim Sees 'Dynamic' EV Market

Recently opened new VEV showrooms in Saudi Arabia in particular. Tell us a little bit about how that happened, It’s a new project for you. Yes. So thanks for having me on. And then I’m glad to share the all the insights about electric vehicle market. It’s very dynamic at the minute. It’s it’s really for us in two different dimension. If we look at the the, the, the consumer insights, the consumer interest, it is ever growing in our region both in UAE in and in KSA. In the KSA particularly I’m one of the reason why we are very optimistic about opportunity is that if you look at the different surveys, up to 80% of the customers are saying in KSA they are willing to consider electric vehicle as their next purchase. So and right now if you look at the sales rate, adoption is less than almost 1% in KSA that represents an incredible opportunity of the growth in this market. Well, it is very fascinating because it’s quite a congested city. Riyadh for example, Jeddah, where you’ve also opened a showroom, but you’ve done this without a local partner. Talk to us about that. It’s a whole new world, it seems like. Yeah, we are alpha Time part of the Alpha time group. Alpha Time Group is the more than 90 years in operation in GCC and beyond and we have been in Saudi for a long time also for our other businesses like to retail and like to the commercial construction equipment business as well for many, many, many years. So for us, we consider ourselves as also local in the market. Passenger cars business was the one is the missing link for us. So we are very happy to be part of it and also with our logistic companies with our retail experience also developing further the passenger car business with the strength of our group in the in present in Saudi as well. Now Saudi is also investing in its own EV research and also manufacturing and sales. How do you see yourselves fitting in terms of competition with Saudi Arabia? In order to unlock the full potential of the electric vehicle adoption, you need competition and we would only welcome Saudi governments and then the semi government companies investments on on on the new companies. And we are also bringing another brand, the number one in the new new energy vehicle BYD. And I think with the choice of the different models, different technologies and different availabilities, this is the way to unlock it’s. I found that I’m very good insight tell us a little bit more about expansion possibilities in the region more broadly. And we are seeing a huge influx of populations from the likes of China, from Russia and from other countries as well, including countries in Europe. And that would present opportunities, I’m sure. Yeah. So especially if you look at in the UAE, the population more than 85% is the, as we call it, expatriates or foreigners. They are coming with a entire the rest of the world and they are bringing their own consumer behaviors than the habits and then the insights. So it makes it in a very dynamic and interesting interesting markets and especially also enough Saudis has a huge vision to attract more foreigners to the to the Kingdom And this is obviously bringing a very vibrant, very dynamic and very well versed markets and that also requires the same from private companies to cater all these needs. Do you have any figures that you have in mind or any goals that you’d like to attain? So we made our pledge when we set up our companies a year ago. We set that in the UAE. We will be by 2030 as a group automotive group. We will be selling 50% of our entire portfolio as the electrified vehicles and also we will contribute to the complete electric vehicle infrastructure by 10% of the entire nation. And similarly when we launched in in the Kingdom 4 weeks ago, we made a similar pledge. We said that 50% or even more 100% we can go in Saudi with electrified and also we will invest in the local workforce. We will hire the local people, upscale them, train them to prepare the move to new generation of the future 100% is quite the ambition, a little bit about green financing because it’s very in vogue at the moment. Is there any opportunity for you to tap those markets debt or capital markets? We are, we are as alpha team a family company and we have been putting a very strong investment case for both in UAE and and and KSA in any future markets. So my role is actually to unlocking this growth and then the the pushing for for this. So this is what we are I am focusing on right now. So no plans to actually tap those markets. So this is something maybe it’s better, you may talk with our CFO, but this is my role is just unlocking the growth that we see is a magnificent opportunity for both markets and across GCC. How does it impact Alfutin Mobility Company that it’s now no longer necessary in the UAE to have a local partner. Does that impact you? It’s sort of the vice versa of what’s happening with you in Saudi Arabia. Again, as I mentioned to you, especially for emerging technology for like the electric mobility, you need more partners, you need more world class companies and then the established businesses to come into here. So we absolutely welcome this openness to any competition to answer because at the end of the competition with the availability of the models, the price affordability, the consumer will win and adoption will happen. I have to ask you about tastes. What are people here and in Saudi Arabia looking for when it comes to electric vehicles, what are the more popular ones? So here obviously due to in UAE due to the makeup of the country the the range that the consumer drive in a daily basis is is a bit smaller. So therefore they are looking a lot on the full electric vehicles. But we are also offering the second technology which is the plug in hybrid as we call the best of both worlds which is electric motor and the battery in it, it you can drive more than 100 kilometers and and also with the combined engine it goes up to 1000. So we see that in Saudi due to the the the country and the distances are begin being longer. We see the more interest to our plug in hybrid technology which is a transition to the full electric in the in the country.