Elon is Teaming Up With the Same Billionaires Who Torpedoed His Plan to Take Tesla Private

While headlines have been dominated by Elon Musk using his government position overseeing DOGE to fire regulators involved with Tesla’s self-driving tech, another major move is happening (and this time it’s positive news for shareholders). Tesla is officially setting up shop in Saudi Arabia.

This is a big deal… and not just because Tesla is expanding into a new market. It signals that Musk has officially mended fences with one of the most powerful figures in the Middle East, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF). 

If that name rings a bell, it's because he was right in the middle of Musk’s infamous 2018 “funding secured” tweet, where Elon claimed Tesla had the money to go private, largely based on early talks with the Saudis. When the deal didn’t materialize, investors sued, tense texts between Musk and Al-Rumayyan were made public, and the PIF dumped its Tesla shares and poured billions into rival EV-maker Lucid Motors.

Now in 2025, things look a lot different. Musk has appeared at multiple Saudi-hosted events over the last six months, including a major investment conference where Al-Rumayyan was seated front row. They were also seen together at a UFC match in New York alongside former President Donald Trump. Most recently, Musk attended a Saudi summit in Miami. And now, Tesla is officially launching in Riyadh (I mean it makes sense, if PGA superfans can accept LIV Golf, this is peanuts).

The timing of Tesla’s Saudi launch is surgically timed. Tesla just posted a 13% drop in year-over-year sales in Q1, its worst showing since early 2021. Deliveries came in at 386,810 units, far below Wall Street’s already-low expectations of 449,080. That miss wiped $50 billion off Tesla’s market cap in a single day. So yeah, Elon could use a win.

Between rising EV competition from China, delays on the refreshed Model Y, and consumers getting tired of being lectured by the CEO on X, Tesla needs a new growth story… and fast. That’s where Saudi Arabia comes in perfectly.

The kingdom is throwing around $39 billion to develop its EV sector under its Vision 2030 plan… a national push to diversify the economy away from oil. The goal is to make 30% of all cars in Riyadh electric by the end of the decade. Sounds ambitious, but they’re not messing around. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (who also owns LIV Golf) owns a majority stake in Lucid Motors, opened a final assembly plant in King Abdullah Economic City in 2023, and teamed up with Foxconn to launch their own domestic EV brand, Ceer Motors, which plans to start deliveries in 2025.

But now Tesla’s making a strategic counter. Elon’s opening up a trio of pop-up stores in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, just days before an expected visit from Donald Trump.

But let's not pretend this will be easy. Saudi Arabia has just 101 EV charging stations across the entire country (read that again)... that’s fewer than some U.S. highways. By comparison, the UAE has 261, with a third of the population. And the infamous 900-kilometer stretch between Riyadh and Mecca doesn’t have a single charger. Not one. Also, summer temps regularly spike to 122°F (which if you’ve ever driven an electric car in America’s way cooler summer, you know is gonna be a problem).

Also, you can be happy as a lark about this move… but you have to admit this is not a turnkey market. EVs made up only 1% of all vehicle sales in Saudi Arabia in 2024. That’s roughly 2,000 vehicles.

But if you’re looking for some good news, data also shows over 40% of Saudi consumers are at least EV-curious, saying they’d consider buying one in the next three years. And analysts at S&P Global expect Tesla could sell 10,000 to 30,000 units annually in the kingdom once operations ramp. That’s not insane volume, but it’s a solid start… especially as Lucid and BYD already have a head start.

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Stock.News has positions in Tesla.