The first 100 Made in the Emirates vehicles rolled off a line that did not exist a year ago. Each one is a luxury SUV, numbered and finished to order, with the national mark set into its bodywork. The badge is small. The question behind it is not.
ROX, a premium vehicle maker, assembled this first batch at its AI Manufacturing Centre in KEZAD Abu Dhabi, the industrial zone sitting at the heart of the emirate’s move into advanced production. For now, 100 Made in the Emirates vehicles sit with their first owners, each one a quiet claim that the country can build, not only buy.
Inside the ROX Abu Dhabi factory
The ROX Abu Dhabi factory took shape in six months, a short build for a site meant to do more than bolt imported parts together. It holds a Manufacturing Centre, an AI Lab and a Design Studio in one place. That mix matters for UAE car manufacturing, because it keeps design, software and assembly inside the country rather than sending the hard part abroad. The model, a new-energy SUV, runs through a numbered production process shaped for regional buyers.
Where Made in the Emirates vehicles fit
The badge belongs to a wider plan. Under Operation 300bn, the National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology wants local factories to carry more of the economy, and the Make it in the Emirates campaign gives homegrown goods a recognised stamp. Made in the Emirates vehicles now join aluminium, aircraft parts and pharmaceuticals on that list. Carrying the Made in the Emirates mark means a product has met national benchmarks for quality, a point the government has pushed hard as it courts foreign manufacturers.
The case from government and investors
Hasan Jasem Al Nowais, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, framed the 100 vehicles as proof that government support, investment and manufacturing can meet in one spot. He tied the handover to the goal of a broader, steadier industrial base, one less exposed to global supply shocks. Mohammad Ali Al Kamali, Chief Trade and Industry Officer at the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, pointed to the partnership between ADIO and ROX as the reason the company could set up and grow so fast in the emirate.
Hasan Jasem Al Nowais, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, said, “The UAE continues to develop an integrated industrial and investment ecosystem that attracts investment. We are focused on expanding the country’s advanced manufacturing base and accelerating the adoption of advanced technology and artificial intelligence, strengthening industry’s contribution to economic diversification and competitiveness, in line with the National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology and the Make it in the Emirates initiative.”
The real test ahead
Jarvis, founder and chief executive of ROX, called the delivery an early step, not a finish line. His company plans to deepen local supply chains and widen output, with the next batches of Made in the Emirates vehicles coming from the same complex and continued production at ICAD and KEZAD. Scale is where the promise gets tested. ROX aims to produce up to 300,000 vehicles a year by 2030, a figure that would need output to climb many times over from this opening run. Whether a six-month plant can turn into a volume one will decide how much the badge comes to mean on wheels.
