RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Tesla officially launched in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, marking a new chapter in the company’s global expansion after Elon Musk ’s troubled relationship with the kingdom — but the Middle East country’s extreme heat could pose a challenge for its electric vehicle performance and battery efficiency.
Musk and Saudi Arabia have had a complicated history. Back in 2018, the Tesla CEO claimed he had secured funding from the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund to take the company private. That deal never happened, leading to lingering tensions.
With the launch of its first showroom and service center in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Tesla makes its long-anticipated entry into the Saudi market. The facility will offer models, including Model 3, Model Y and the Cybertruck, and pop-up stores are also opening in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam.
The Riyadh event drew a large and diverse crowd — from content creators and car enthusiasts to visitors excited about Tesla's launch.
“It’s a beautiful step we’ve been waiting for — to finally see Tesla open in Saudi Arabia,” said Bader Khalid, a local businessman. “The country is clearly moving toward electric vehicles.”
"Tesla is one of the most important EV companies in the world, so it’s a big deal to have them present in our market,” he added.
However, the kingdom still faces significant challenges in infrastructure, with a limited number of public EV charging stations available. The government has announced plans to expand charging networks as part of its sustainability goals.
Musk has a large fan base in the kingdom, praised by many for his creativity and innovation, and seen as a visionary of the future.
“He’s always looking ahead," said Mohammed Osama, a teenager who describes himself as enthusiastic about everything Tesla. "Maybe a few things don’t make sense right now, but in the future, it’ll all come together — he’s building something bigger.”
Many attendees expected Musk to make an appearance, at least via video, but he didn’t show.
Though Tesla has faced criticism and even vandalism in parts of the United States and elsewhere, after Musk took a prominent role in President Donald Trump’s administration. People have protested Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has been moving to slash the size of the federal government through large-scale layoffs, contract cancellations and other moves.
Still, many in Saudi Arabia believe that won't impact Tesla's performance in the kingdom.
“Political events outside of Saudi Arabia don’t concern us," said Khalid. "So I don’t think this thing has any effect.”
Lucid Motors, another luxury electric vehicle manufacturer, headquartered in California, has had a deepening relationship with Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom’s Public Investment Fund is one of Lucid’s largest backers, owning a majority stake in the company. In 2022, Lucid announced plans to build its first international manufacturing plant in the city of Jeddah, a major step in the kingdom's push to become a hub for advanced automotive technology.
The growing interest in electric vehicles aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 — an ambitious plan to diversify the economy and reduce its dependence on oil. EVs are a key part of the strategy, with the government aiming for 30% of all vehicles in Riyadh to be electric by 2030.
People attend a celebration for the start of Tesla operations in Saudi Arabia in historic Diriyah near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, April 10, 2025 (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer)
People attend a celebration for the start of Tesla operations in Saudi Arabia in historic Diriyah near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, April 10, 2025 (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer)
People attend a celebration for the start of Tesla operations in Saudi Arabia in historic Diriyah near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, April 10, 2025 (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are flirting with a record Wednesday following their big rally the last two weeks on hopes that the global economy can avoid a worst-case scenario because of the U.S.-Iran war.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% and was on track to eclipse its all-time high set in January. After falling nearly 10% below its record in late March, a drop steep enough that Wall Street calls it a “correction,” the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts has since roared roughly 10% higher.
Much of the rally has been due to expectations for calming tensions in the war and a resumption of the full flow of oil from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide through the Strait of Hormuz. Hopes remained high Wednesday as regional officials told The Associated Press that the United States and Iran had an “in principle agreement” to extend a ceasefire to allow for more diplomacy.
To be sure, stocks could easily get back to falling if those expectations get undercut, which has happened before in the war. Oil prices drifted up and down Wednesday and showed that caution remains in financial markets. Stock indexes around the world also made only modest movements following their big gains in recent weeks.
The price of Brent crude, the international standard, edged up 0.1% to settle at $94.93 per barrel. That’s still well above its roughly $70 price from before the war, though it’s down from its $119 peak when worries about the fighting have been at their heights.
A barrel of U.S. crude oil for May delivery inched up less than 0.1% to settle at $91.29.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 52 points, or 0.1%, as of 3:09 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.4% higher.
If U.S.-Iran talks do happen and if they are successful, the war could end up being only a temporary setback for the global economy instead of a new normal of very high oil prices and inflation. And that in turn could allow investors to return their attention to what matters most for stock prices: money.
Through all the day-to-day noise that can affect investors’ opinions, stock prices tend to move with the direction of corporate profits over the long term. And positive trends there had stock markets doing well before the war began. Analysts also see continued growth ahead, for now at least.
Bank of America rose 2% after saying it made $8.6 billion in profit during the first three months of the year. That’s up 17% from a year earlier and more than analysts expected. CEO Brian Moynihan also said the bank saw signs of a “resilient American economy,” including solid spending by U.S. consumers.
Morgan Stanley jumped 4.7% after the investment bank likewise delivered a better-than-expected quarter of results.
Companies hurt earlier in the year by worries about artificial-intelligence technology also rose to recover more of their losses for 2026. Some of the concerns were about companies potentially spending too much to build out AI capabilities, while others focused on businesses that may go obsolete because of AI-powered competition.
The worries got so deep that they shook private-credit companies that have lent money to software businesses and others potentially under threat because of AI.
ServiceNow climbed 7.8%, Oracle rose 4.6% and Ares Management gained 6.3% for some of Wednesday's biggest gains in the S&P 500. All are still down between 12% and 38% for the year so far.
With stock prices overall back to where they were in January, and with analysts' expectations for upcoming profits from big U.S. companies only rising since then, optimists say many stocks look less expensive than they did a few months ago.
“Today, we see compelling opportunity potential” to shift into areas of the market that look like better buys than earlier this year, such as technology stocks, said Mason Mendez, investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
The stock price of Allbirds surged more than 600% to top $18 after the company said it's shifting gears and moving into the AI compute infrastructure industry, while changing its name to NewBird AI. The Allbirds name will stay with the shoe brand that the company has already agreed to sell to American Exchange Group.
Nike rose 3.7% after CEO Elliott Hill and Tim Cook — a Nike director and the CEO of Apple — disclosed that they purchased a combined 48,000 shares of the athletic shoe maker at a cost of about $1 million each. Nike shares are still down about 28% this year.
On the losing end of Wall Street was ASML. The Dutch company, whose machinery helps make chips, fell 5.4% after giving a forecasted range for upcoming revenue whose midpoint fell below analysts' expectations. Its stock is nevertheless still up about 34% for the year so far.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following modest gains in Asia.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28% from 4.26% late Tuesday.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
The audio file on this story has been updated to correct the timing of the S&P 500’s recent gain of more than 10%, which occurred since late March.
People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A screen shows the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader reacts near a screen showing international oil prices at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
