Foreign investors flock to flagship Saudi economic conference — but face less free-flowing cash
A delegate arrives at the King Abdulaziz Conference Centre in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh to attend the Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum.
Fayez Nureldine | Afp | Getty Images
Thousands of financiers, founders and investors are set to descend on the Saudi capital of Riyadh for the eighth edition of the kingdom’s Future Investment Initiative, the flagship economic conference at the heart of Vision 2030 — the multi-trillion dollar plan to modernize and diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy.
Described in past years by some attendees as a bonanza for Saudi cash, fund managers who spoke to CNBC this year draw a distinctly different picture as the kingdom simultaneously upholds more requirements for prospective fundraisers and investors, while also facing a revenue crunch amid lower oil prices and production.
“Without question, it’s gotten way more competitive to attract money from the kingdom,” Omar Yacoub, a partner at U.S.-based investment firm ABS Global, which manages nearly $8 billion in assets, told CNBC. “Everyone and anyone has been going to ‘kiss the rings,’ so to speak, in Riyadh.”
“Competition for capital has heated up, combined with other factors such as Saudis always having a ‘home bias’ towards investing, plus the broader dynamic of a tighter budget throughout the kingdom due to lower oil prices,” Yacoub said. “This has meant that investing internationally has become much more selective.”
As Saudi Arabia moves full steam ahead with its focus on domestic investment, it’s introduced more stringent conditions for foreigners coming to the kingdom to take capital elsewhere. The kingdom’s $925 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, saw its assets jump 29% to 2.87 trillion Saudi riyals ($765.2 billion) in 2023 — and local investment was a major driver.
Saudi Arabia’s recently-updated Investment Law seeks to attract more foreign investment as well — and it’s set itself a lofty target of $100 billion in annual foreign direct investment by 2030. Currently, that figure is still a long way from that goal as foreign investment has averaged around $12 billion per year since Vision 2030 was announced in 2017.
“It’s no longer about ‘take our money and leave’ — it’s about adding value,” said Fadi Arbid, founding partner and chief investment officer of Dubai-based investment manager Amwal Capital Partners. “Value meaning hiring, developing the asset management ecosystem, creating new products, bringing in talent, and investing in Saudi capital markets also. So it’s multi-faceted investment, not only a pure financial transaction. It’s beyond that.”
‘More disciplined, more rational’
At the same time, the kingdom is taking clear steps to scale back spending, as oil prices fall well below its fiscal breakeven figure and it continues with crude production cuts agreed upon by OPEC+.
That fiscal breakeven oil price — what the kingdom needs a barrel of crude to cost in order to balance its government budget — has risen sharply as Saudi Arabia pours trillions of dollars into giga-project NEOM.
The IMF’s latest forecast in April, put that breakeven figure at $96.20 for 2024; a roughly 19% increase on the year before, and about 28% higher than the current price of a barrel of Brent crude, which was trading at around $72.75 as of Monday morning.
“I don’t think Saudi has the same means that they had literally two years ago,” one regional investor, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, said. Nonetheless, they added, the kingdom “remains one of the very few countries that still have money to give. It might be somewhat on pause today, but … now it’s more disciplined, more rational.”
Some fund managers with years of experience in the Gulf suggested it may be too little too late for many of the investors making their first forays to the kingdom.
“You should have started that process two, three, four years ago,” Arbid said. However, he added, “For those that are coming in queue now, that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t position — because it’s a cycle, right? But now, I think they’re more deliberate about it — they say you need to commit to the country.”
One example is the kingdom’s headquarters law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and requires foreign companies operating in the Gulf to base their Middle Eastern HQ offices in Riyadh if they want contracts with the Saudi government.
In the shadow of regional war
The glitzy conference, held in the opulent Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, also takes place against the backdrop of regional war and just over a year after Israel launched its war on Hamas in Gaza.
In that time, attacks between Israel and Iranian proxies including Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis have soared, with the Jewish state invading Lebanon in September. The region has been on tenterhooks awaiting Israel’s avowed revenge against Iran for its missile barrage over Tel Aviv and other parts of the country on Oct. 1.
Early on Saturday, Israel struck military sites in Iran targeting missile manufacturing factories. Israel’s military later said it had completed “targeted” attacks in Iran, adding that it was ready to “conduct defensive and offensive action.”
Oil prices and the Saudi economy appear to so far have stayed largely unscathed, dropping 4% early Monday after Israel’s weekend strike on Iran. A key reason for that may be the rapprochement deal the kingdom signed with Iran, brokered by China, in March 2023.
“Saudi has done a phenomenal job recently of shielding itself from geopolitical events,” Arbid said.
That is also aided by the fact that local investors make up the majority of market participants, and local investor confidence is strong. The Tadawul All Shares Index, Saudi Arabia’s leading stock market index, is up 16.48% in the last year.
Still, some analysts in the region warn that the expanding crises in the Middle East have the potential to cause further instability.
“The war has gradually escalated to the point where there is a de-facto regional war,” Aziz Alghashian, director of research at the Observer Research Foundation Middle East, told CNBC. “The ongoing war is not only a geopolitical crisis, but the continuation of it has potential to create more radicalization in and around the region.”
“Attracting FDI and tourism, while maintaining oil prices at a desired level, are key for keeping Saudi Arabia’s mega projects and diversification plans on track,” Alghashian said.
“This of course is complicated by regional war, and so economy and security go very much hand in hand.”
The latest automotive numbers in Europe were released for August, confirming that Tesla’s decline is continuing, but it has slowed down, with the company “only” being down 22%.
However, the most worrying part for Tesla is that it is happening while battery-electric vehicle sales were up 30% last month.
Tesla’s decline in Europe has been well-documented for the last two years, but it has accelerated significantly in 2025, with Tesla experiencing a monthly decrease of 30-40% year-over-year.
In somewhat good news for the company, the decline has slowed in August.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) released its report for sales in August 2025.
It confirms that Tesla delivered 14,831 vehicles in Europe (EU + EFTA + UK) in August 2025, down 22% from August 2024.
In comparison, the decline is not as alarming as previous months, but it now brings Tesla’s total deliveries year-to-date to 133,857 vehicles compared to 198,474 vehicles in 2024. That’s down -32.6%.
Where things start to get more alarming for Tesla is when you compare it to the broader EV market.
ACEA reports:
The YOY variation in August 2025 showed a rise of 30.2% for battery-electric and 14.1% for hybrid-electric cars, while plug-in-hybrid electric recorded its sixth consecutive month of continuous strong growth with a 54.5% increase.
Here are the results for August and year-to-date in EU + EFTA + UK:
Electrek’s Take
It should be alarming when the world’s biggest electric automaker sees its sales decline 22% in a market where electric vehicle sales are surging 30%.
There’s certainly something wrong that should be addressed.
However, Tesla is not addressing the issue. In fact, Elon Musk even outright dismissed it when asked about it a few months ago. He doesn’t have to, because he has convinced Tesla shareholders that EV sales no longer matter, and it’s about autonomous driving and robots.
Musk even commented on this ACEA report. Reuters published it and claimed that BYD outsold Tesla in the EU. Musk retweeted and commented on a post claiming that Reuters was misleading:
Reuters is not being misleading. BYD outsold Tesla 9,130 units to 8,220 units in the EU last month.
If they had said “Europe” rather than the EU, it would have been misleading, but they didn’t.
Tesla did outsell BYD in broader Europe, if you include EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) and the UK: 14,831 to 11,455 units.
Either way, I don’t know why he would want to get into that conversation whatsoever because in EU+EFTA+UK, BYD was up 215% last month compared to Tesla being down 22%.
Year-to-date, BYD is up 280% compared ot Tesla being down 32%.
At this pace, BYD is likely to outsell Tesla for the entire year, and the Chinese automaker is operating under tariffs in Europe, a market where it has only been present for about three years.
Elon has fully lost the plot.
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Hyundai Motor is recalling nearly 8,000 2023-2025 Genesis GV60 EVs due to a potential issue with the molding at the top of the windshield that may cause it to fall off.
Why is Hyundai recalling Genesis GV60 EVs?
After issuing a recall for nearly 600,000 Pallisade, IONIQ 5, and IONIQ 6 vehicles last week, you can add a few more to the list.
Hyundai is recalling certain 2023-2025 model year Genesis GV60 EVs due to a potential issue with the molding at the top of the windshield, which may peel or even detach while driving.
Those with impacted vehicles may hear a wind noise or whistling coming from the upper part of the windshield. After running internal tests, Hyundai found the issue was due to insufficient adhesion from the supplier.
Although no crashes or injuries were reported, Hyundai is aware of 112 reports of molding detachment from October 26, 2022, through August 8, 2025.
Hyundai has since fixed the issue and estimates that only 1% of the 7,855 Genesis GV60 EVs being recalled actually have the defect.
The company expects to mail owner notification letters on November 17, 2025. GV60 owners can contact Genesis customer service at 844-340-9741 with questions. Hyundai’s recall number is 028G.
Owners can also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or visit NHTSA.gov for more information. The NHTSA campaign number for the recall is 25V624.
According to Cox Automotive, Hyundai sold 3,400 Genesis GV60 models in the US in 2023, 2,866 in 2024, and another 1,192 in the first half of 2025. So, that would be just about all Genesis GV60s sold in the US from 2023 through the first few months of 2025.
After dropping the Electrified G80 from its lineup earlier this year, Genesis now sells just two EVs in the US: the GV60 and Electrified GV70.
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Environment
What we know about Rivian software update 2025.34 including highway assist upgrades [Update]
![What we know about Rivian software update 2025.34 including highway assist upgrades [Update]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/09/Rivian-sofwatre-update-2025.34jpg.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
A new software update from Rivian was sighted earlier this month, and it’s being prepared for a full rollout to Gen 2 R1S and R1T EVs. The latest Rivian update includes upgrades to the American automaker’s Enhanced Highway Assist driving, more energy-conscious home charging capabilities, and a slew of other improvements outlined below.
Update September 25, 2025: Rivian has confirmed the details of software update 2025.34 outlined below. However, we still do not have a concrete timeline for when the update will roll out to current R1S and R1T owners.
Like most software-defined vehicles, Rivian models like the R1S and R1T receive periodic updates over-the-air (OTA). As a Rivian owner and an enthusiast, software updates are often exciting news to report on, as they usually result in new features or abilities to existing technology or enable various efficiencies (and bug fixes fixes, of course).
Over the past six months, we’ve seen updates like 2025.10, which rolled out to the public in early April, and 2025.14, which updated the BEV’s Highway Assist feature. In late May, RivianTrackr shared that software update 2025.18 was rolling out internally before launching wide to Rivian owners, and it was one of the more robust rollouts we had seen for a while.
Most recently, a similar site called RivianRoamer has reported on a new software update, 2025.34, which has already been spotted before it makes its way out to the public
Rivian software update adds new “Co-Steer” feature
Per reports, Rivian software update 2025.34 is in the works in a beta version before it inevitably makes its way to the community of R1S and R1T owners. That being said, please note that any of these listed features or improvements could change or be removed altogether before the update goes out wide.
The first notable upgrade pertains to the Enhanced Highway Assist ADAS in Gen 2 Rivian models. Right now, the pending software update will enable a new assist feature called “Co-Steer,” which will allow a driver to adjust their given position within a lane using “gentle steering inputs” without the Enhanced Highway Assist disengaging.
Speaking of Enhanced Highway Assist, Rivian shared that the availability of the ADAS feature has increased by up to 50%, particularly on urban and suburban highways. Lastly, the 2025.34 update includes a new perception model that improves lane centering performance, especially on curves.
Additionally, Rivian’s latest pending software update will allow your vehicle to automatically charge itself during off-peak times at your home when electricity is cheaper, ensuring your vehicle is ready when you need it.
According to the report, “smart scheduling” can cut annual home EV charging costs by 20% or more and increase your use of clean energy. You can enable this feature and monitor everything through your account in the Rivian app (version 3.5 or later).
Other updates and big fixes from 2025.34 (subject to change)
- Audio improvements (Gen 2 Rivian models)
- Fine-tuned equalization and delays to make the bass feel richer and more impactful
- Soundstage improvements for better localization, separation, and layering
- Improved blending of Dolby Atmos content for all listening positions
- Performance improvements
- Updated and improved media apps, including increased touchscreen responsiveness
- Improved Navigation stability and responsiveness
- Improved responsiveness to mobile commands while vehicle is asleep
- Resolved rare issue that prevented users from accepting the terms of service for Rivian Navigation with Google Maps
- Fixed issue that kept Gear Guard video thumbnails from displaying properly on the Motion Cam and Incidents screens
- Resolved rare issue where the tonneau cover position is displayed incorrectly on certain screens of Gen 1 R1T models
- Resolved rare issue that caused fog lights to turn off and exterior lights to revert to Auto mode (Gen 1)
- Fixed issue that caused trip energy and efficiency data to fluctuate unexpectedly
- Improvements to the accuracy of battery range on arrival estimates, including adding location air density as a factor for locations at higher elevations
- Resolved rare issue that prevented the door handles from presenting for an unlock request while Car Wash mode is active (Gen 2 EVs)
- Reduced excessive blower noise during climate control start-up in mild conditions while maintaining cooling performance in extreme temperatures (Gen 2 EVs)
- Fixed rare issue that caused cabin conditioning requests initiated from the Rivian mobile app to fail on the first attempt (Gen 2 EVs)
- Additional improvements for 12V battery health detection, including in-vehicle and mobile app notifications to alert you when the 12V battery needs to be replaced (Gen 2 EVs)
That’s all for now. As a reminder, the above release notes pertain to a beta version of the software update, and 2025.34 could be different when it reaches Rivian owners in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out for it!
In the meantime, I recommend scheduling a test drive with Rivian if you haven’t done so yet. See if you can get behind the wheel of an upcoming R2. It’s a winner!
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