A plan to set up an industrial city to manufacture automobiles in the Kingdom has been submitted to the competent authorities.

The city, to be established in Rabigh, is intended to be the biggest hub to manufacture automobiles and their spare parts.

Industrial Clusters Program (ICP) President Azzam Shalabi said once the city is established, the production capacity will stand at 400,000 vehicles a year within the first few years of its operations.

“The factory will work on the production of spare parts. It will include a higher institute for on-the-job car industry training in addition to several technical and technological services the industry urgently needs,” he said.

He said the ICP discussed the issue with international automobile companies to attract investments.

“One of the companies, which has expertise, global trademark and distribution and sales networks around the world, has offered to strengthen and enhance its success in the industry by establishing a project in the Kingdom and pipeline its production in the region in addition to exporting its operations,” he explained.

Shalabi said the ICP seeks to develop the Saudi industry and attract strong investments, mainly in the automobile and car spare parts industry, components for the production of solar energy, fibers and polyesters, rubber and elastics, pharmaceuticals and silicone.

The establishment of this industrial city comes following the success achieved by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in attracting two of the international automobile companies to enter Saudi Arabia and open factories in 2012 — Isuzu trucks, which began production the same year, and Jaguar Land Rover.

The Saudi Industrial Property Authority confirmed earlier that it is considering many offers from international companies for industrial investment in the Kingdom, including the automobile industry.