Saudi Arabia’s new Exobot EVs make the Cybertruck look normal
Saudi Arabia’s new Exobot EVs make the Cybertruck look normal
沙特阿拉伯新款 Exobot 电动汽车让 Cybertruck 看起来都显得“正常”了
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is mostly known for its global dominance over petroleum production and oil reserves — not necessarily cars and auto manufacturing, and certainly not electric vehicle production. So it was a little surprising on Monday when a Saudi startup called Ceer unveiled a pair of hyper-angular, spaceship-like EVs, with plans to launch an additional five models by 2030.
沙特阿拉伯王国以其在全球石油生产和储备中的主导地位而闻名，而非汽车制造，更谈不上电动汽车生产。因此，当一家名为 Ceer 的沙特初创公司在周一发布了两款棱角分明、宛如宇宙飞船般的电动汽车，并计划在 2030 年前再推出五款车型时，着实令人感到有些意外。
The Exobot (yes, that’s the real name) sedan and SUV are expected to go on sale in Saudi Arabia starting in 2027. The ultra-futuristic designs scream Tron, Blade Runner, and every other sci-fi movie you’ve seen — and then some. The gullwing doors are ripped straight from the Tesla Model X (which, of course, was ripped straight from the DeLorean and a range of other rare production cars). Wild and wedge-shaped, the Exobots seemed built explicitly to draw attention. Which, in an attention-based economy, is probably the right strategy.
Exobot（没错，这就是它的真名）轿车和 SUV 预计将于 2027 年起在沙特阿拉伯上市。其极具未来感的设计让人联想到《创：战纪》、《银翼杀手》以及你所看过的每一部科幻电影，甚至有过之而无不及。鸥翼门直接借鉴了特斯拉 Model X（当然，特斯拉也是借鉴了 DeLorean 和其他一系列稀有量产车）。Exobot 造型狂野且呈楔形，似乎就是为了博人眼球而生。在当今的“注意力经济”中，这或许是正确的策略。
The sedan Exobot has low-slung, supercar proportions with a steeply raked windshield that flows seamlessly into the hood. The front fascia features a razor-thin, full-width LED light bar nestled under a sharp, forward-jutting nose, giving it a mean, visor-like glare. The two-tone bodywork and ample windshield immediately had me thinking about the Ferrari Luce, the polarizing electric supercar released earlier than this year.
Exobot 轿车拥有低矮的超级跑车比例，陡峭倾斜的挡风玻璃与引擎盖无缝衔接。前脸采用了一条极细的全宽 LED 灯带，嵌入在锋利且向前突出的车鼻下方，赋予了它一种类似面罩的凶悍凝视感。双色车身和宽大的挡风玻璃让我立刻想到了今年早些时候发布的、极具争议的电动超跑 Ferrari Luce。
The SUV boasts a blocky, military-meets-cyberpunk stance with high ground clearance and aggressive angles. The whole thing looks thick and armor-plated, with a flat roofline and a distinctive, tactical presence. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this thing bouncing along the Moon’s surface someday. Both were designed by Rob Melville, McLaren’s former design director. But according to Autocar, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had final say on the design.
这款 SUV 拥有方正的“军事风遇上赛博朋克”姿态，离地间隙高，线条棱角分明。整车看起来厚实且带有装甲感，平直的车顶线条赋予了它独特的战术外观。如果有一天看到它在月球表面行驶，我也不会感到惊讶。这两款车均由迈凯伦前设计总监 Rob Melville 设计。但据《Autocar》报道，沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼对最终设计拥有决定权。
Ceer is hoping to take advantage of all the upheaval in the global car market, driven largely by the flood of Chinese electric vehicle exports in Asia, Europe, and South America. The US appears on its way to becoming an automotive backwater, with its ahistorical embrace of internal combustion engines and steep tariffs designed to keep Chinese EVs at bay. Why not release a pair of bombastic Batmobiles as a way to distract from the originating country’s extreme oil dependency?
Ceer 希望利用全球汽车市场的动荡局势，这种动荡主要由中国电动汽车在亚洲、欧洲和南美洲的出口激增所驱动。美国似乎正逐渐沦为汽车工业的落后地区，其对内燃机的固守以及旨在阻挡中国电动汽车的高额关税显得与时代脱节。既然如此，推出两款夸张的“蝙蝠车”来转移人们对该国极端石油依赖的关注，又何尝不可呢？
Ceer didn’t exactly emerge from nothing. Rather, it’s a joint venture between Saudi Arabia’s PIF sovereign wealth fund and Foxconn, the Taiwanese company most known for manufacturing the iPhone for Apple. The company will be funded by the kingdom’s vast oil wealth, but with the purpose of building a lineup of vehicles that run on electricity.
Ceer 并非凭空出现。它实际上是沙特阿拉伯公共投资基金（PIF）与富士康的合资企业，后者以代工苹果 iPhone 而闻名。该公司将由沙特庞大的石油财富提供资金，但其目标是打造一系列以电力驱动的汽车产品线。
Even though it’s distinctly a project built to jump-start the kingdom’s auto industry, Ceer needed to venture outside its borders when hiring for its top roles. Jim DeLuca spent 37 years at General Motors, ending up as executive VP for global manufacturing, before joining Ceer as CEO.
尽管这显然是一个旨在启动沙特汽车工业的项目，但 Ceer 在招聘高管时仍需放眼海外。Jim DeLuca 在通用汽车工作了 37 年，曾担任全球制造执行副总裁，随后加入 Ceer 担任首席执行官。
“We wanted to make sure the world could see what Saudi Arabia is capable of,” DeLuca told Reuters. The kingdom has had mixed luck when it comes to automotive projects. There were plans to build a Jaguar-Land Rover factory there over a decade ago, but to no avail. Toyota declined a deal with the Saudis in 2019. The Public Investment Fund owns a controlling stake in California-based Lucid Motors, which is now building a manufacturing facility in King Abdullah Economic City.
“我们希望确保世界能看到沙特阿拉伯的能力，”DeLuca 在接受路透社采访时表示。沙特在汽车项目上的运气一直参差不齐。十多年前曾有计划在当地建立捷豹路虎工厂，但最终未能实现。丰田在 2019 年拒绝了与沙特的合作。目前，公共投资基金持有总部位于加州的 Lucid Motors 的控股权，该公司正在阿卜杜拉国王经济城建设制造工厂。
Ceer is taking a diversified approach to its vehicle lineup. While the first models will be electric, subsequent vehicles will be hybrid and combustion-engine, depending on market demands. That said, starting a car company from scratch is daunting. Just ask Fisker, Lordstown, or Arrival — all of which went bankrupt. Even Lucid, with its support from PIF, is still struggling. We’ll have to see whether Ceer can buck that trend.
Ceer 正在采取多元化的产品策略。虽然首批车型将是电动汽车，但后续车型将根据市场需求涵盖混合动力和内燃机车型。话虽如此，从零开始创办一家汽车公司绝非易事。看看 Fisker、Lordstown 或 Arrival 就知道了——它们全都破产了。即便是拥有 PIF 支持的 Lucid，目前也仍在挣扎。我们拭目以待 Ceer 是否能扭转这一趋势。