The first UAE-manufactured ROX ADAMAS vehicles have rolled off the production line at the company’s advanced AI manufacturing centre in Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi, marking the start of a scale-up in the emirate that the company says will reach an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles by 2030.
Representatives from the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office attended the start of production, underlining the extent to which ROX’s expansion aligns with the country’s Operation 300bn strategy to grow the industrial sector.
The manufacturing centre handles more than 80 types of component sub-assembly processes, followed by vehicle assembly, calibration, rain and road testing, and final pre-delivery inspection.
Two further facilities, the ROX AI Lab and the ROX Design Studio, have opened alongside the centre, bringing AI development and vehicle design into the same operation as production.
ROX has framed the plant’s output around a “Made in the UAE, Made for the World” approach, with vehicles produced at Kezad set to serve the domestic market and the company’s wider international business.
That overseas reach is not incidental to the timing.
As production scales towards the 2030 target, more Abu Dhabi-built vehicles are expected to reach markets beyond the UAE, positioning the Kezad manufacturing plant as part of ROX’s global supply chain, rather than a facility serving the Emirates alone.
The scale of the Kezad site reflects that ambition.
Rather than a limited assembly operation importing pre-built components for final fitting, the centre in Kezad is designed to handle the bulk of a vehicle’s build process on site.
That involves sub-assembly through to the testing and inspection stages that typically determine whether a plant can be trusted with export volumes rather than just domestic supply.
Building on fast-established UAE base
The manufacturing centre adds to a UAE presence that has been built up quickly.
In less than two years, ROX has established three showrooms, two aftersales service centres and a regional parts hub in the UAE. Across the wider Middle East and North Africa region, ROX now operates 37 showrooms and 21 service centres.
With production, AI and design capabilities now added to that network, the company’s Abu Dhabi operation spans the full chain from vehicle development to sales and aftersales support, rather than functioning as a single facility.
That breadth of services also shapes how ROX presents its choice of headquarters.
Rather than treating Abu Dhabi as a regional sales base with manufacturing bolted on elsewhere, the company has built out engineering, design and production capacity in the same city where it already sells and services its vehicles.
That is the sort of structure more commonly associated with established rather than newly arrived manufacturers.
Grand Tour season 2 heads to Africa
Two ADAMAS from the first batch produced in the UAE will shortly leave Abu Dhabi for the second season of ROX Grand Tour, the company’s long-distance testing expedition.
The first season covered more than 25,000km across 13 countries on a route following the old Silk Road, while the second season is to cross about a dozen African countries, taking in a mix of different roads, climates and driving conditions.
The timing means the first vehicles off the Kezad line will be tested well beyond the UAE almost immediately, generating real-world performance data before wider deliveries begin.
ROX has previously described its Grand Tour as a way of connecting vehicle development with conditions a showroom test drive cannot replicate, using extended journeys to show how a vehicle performs across changing terrain, temperatures and altitudes.
Sending vehicles from the first batch produced in the UAE keeps that link intact for the new production line, rather than treating testing and manufacturing as separate tracks.
What it means for Abu Dhabi’s industrial ambitions
For Abu Dhabi, the start of ROX production represents a tangible step towards the goals set out under the UAE’s Operation 300bn initiative, with the presence of Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and Adio officials at the launch signalling continued government engagement with the company’s growth.
