ROX Starts ADAMAS Production in Abu Dhabi: First Made in the Emirates Cars Roll Off the Line at a 10,000 sq m AI Manufacturing Centre in KEZAD, 20,000 Vehicles in 2027 and 300,000 a Year by 2030

2026-09-04

ROX has completed its Advanced AI Manufacturing Centre in Abu Dhabi and started building cars there: the first three ROX ADAMAS SUVs carrying the “Made in the Emirates” mark have rolled off the line, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on 4 September 2026. The plant occupies 10,000 square metres inside Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD Group, part of AD Ports Group), sub-assembles more than 80 types of vehicle components locally and runs complete vehicle assembly, calibration, rain testing, road testing and final inspection before delivery. Initial capacity is 20,000 vehicles in 2027, rising to a planned 300,000 vehicles a year by 2030 for the UAE market and for export. The project rests on the partnership between ROX and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), is backed by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) under the Make it in the Emirates initiative and counts towards Operation 300bn, the national industrial strategy. Alongside the plant, ROX opened an AI Lab and a Design Studio in Abu Dhabi and said it will unveil its first UAE-designed vehicle, the ADAMAS Abu Dhabi Edition, in March 2027.

What ROX has opened in KEZAD

The WAM report names no investment figure, no headcount and no price for the locally built cars, but it is specific about the facility:

• Site. 10,000 square metres within the industrial ecosystem of KEZAD Group, the economic zones and free zones platform of AD Ports Group next to Khalifa Port.
• Processes. Local sub-assembly of more than 80 types of vehicle components, complete vehicle assembly, calibration, rain testing, road testing and final inspection before the car is handed over.
• Output. The first three ADAMAS vehicles have been built. The facility is expected to provide an initial production capacity of 20,000 vehicles in 2027, with plans to increase it to 300,000 vehicles a year by 2030.
• Markets. The domestic market first, with exports to regional and international markets.
• Mark. The cars carry the Made in the Emirates mark, the national mark for UAE-made products issued by MoIAT.
• Partners. ADIO, whose partnership with ROX underpins the company’s Abu Dhabi headquarters; MoIAT, which supports the project under Make it in the Emirates; and KEZAD Group, which provides the site and the logistics infrastructure.

Hasan Jasem Al Nowais, Undersecretary of MoIAT, said the start of ADAMAS production “reflects the objectives of national initiatives such as Operation 300bn and Make it in the Emirates, and demonstrates the UAE’s ability to attract and localise advanced industries, spanning production and assembly, design, research and development, and artificial intelligence applications”. Mohammad Ali Al Kamali, Chief Trade and Industry Officer at ADIO, called ROX’s progress “a clear example of how industrial investments can translate into local production, deeper industrial capability and global growth” and added that Abu Dhabi “gives manufacturers the infrastructure, connectivity and partners to establish, scale and compete globally from a single base”. Jarvis, Founder and CEO of ROX, described the opening as “a starting point for expanding our presence from Abu Dhabi into international markets”.

From Emirates Palace to KEZAD: how ROX built up its UAE base

ROX is a Chinese manufacturer of range-extended electric SUVs founded in 2021; its first model, the ROX 01, was presented in 2023, and the ADAMAS is the brand’s flagship all-terrain SUV. In May 2025 the UAE was announced as the company’s first production location outside China, and ROX describes the country as its “home and strategy market”. The sequence of steps from the first agreement to the first locally built car took about 16 months:

Speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of Make it in the Emirates in May 2026, Brian Bian, ROX’s Chief Marketing and Product Officer, put the commercial base behind the plant at more than 5,000 vehicles sold in the UAE and more than 20,000 across the Middle East and North Africa. He said 17 components of the ADAMAS already use Borouge materials, that ROX works with ADVETI on training in AI manufacturing and new energy technologies, and that a regional spare-parts hub set up with JINGDONG Logistics in Jebel Ali is designed for next-day parts delivery within the UAE and about one week across the region. The company plans three to four models by 2028 to 2030.

AI Lab, Design Studio and the Abu Dhabi Edition

Together with the plant, ROX unveiled two more units in Abu Dhabi. The AI Lab will serve as the base for developing the ROX AGENT AI platform, in line with the R&D plans announced with ADIO in November 2025. The Design Studio brings together designers from the UAE, China and other countries; its first project is the ROX ADAMAS Abu Dhabi Edition, developed with Design Commission Abu Dhabi and Al Khaznah Leathers, with a design inspired by Khoos, the traditional Emirati craft of weaving palm fronds. ROX plans to unveil this first UAE-designed vehicle in Abu Dhabi in March 2027.

The company also announced the second season of its GRAND TOUR: two vehicles from the first batch of UAE-built ADAMAS will leave Abu Dhabi on a drive across Africa through Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania to Casablanca in Morocco, carrying the Made in the Emirates mark through the markets ROX intends to export to.

The policy frame: Operation 300bn, Make it in the Emirates and the national mark

Three instruments stand behind the wording of the announcement:

• Operation 300bn. The national industrial strategy launched by MoIAT in 2021 aims to raise the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP from AED 133 billion to AED 300 billion by 2031. Opening Make it in the Emirates 2026 on 4 May 2026, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, put the contribution at AED 200 billion, a 70% increase since 2021, with industrial exports of AED 262 billion, including AED 92 billion of advanced industrial exports. ROX presents its 300,000-vehicle target as worth up to 10% of the strategy’s goal.
• Make it in the Emirates. The forum where both ROX agreements were signed. The fifth edition ran from 4 to 7 May 2026 at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi with 146,329 visitors, 1,245 exhibitors and more than 200 agreements: AED 171 billion in industrial agreements, including AED 48.5 billion of investment and AED 19.2 billion of financing; AED 180 billion of procurement offtakes over the next decade; a target to localise more than 5,000 products. KEZAD signed AED 2.1 billion of deals at the forum and ADIO confirmed AED 1.5 billion in support for new and expanded factories. The sixth edition is scheduled for 3 to 6 May 2027.
• Made in the Emirates mark. Launched by MoIAT on 31 May 2023, the mark indicates that a product complies with national quality and safety standards. Companies in the UAE apply for a licence to use it on the ministry’s website; it is issued under the technical requirements of Cabinet Resolution No. 10 of 2018 for a fee of AED 100 covering three years.

The automotive cluster around ROX is not the only sign of Abu Dhabi’s industrial push this year. AD Ports Group, which runs KEZAD, reported record activity in its economic cities and free zones cluster in the second quarter (see our article on AD Ports Group’s Q2 2026 results), and the emirate’s non-oil foreign trade grew 17.9% to AED 230.6 billion in the first half of 2026 (see Abu Dhabi non-oil trade in H1 2026). Chinese carmakers are also arriving through the ports: in August 2026 Khorfakkan Port prepared to receive a record shipment of 6,068 BYD electric vehicles from Shenzhen (see the Khorfakkan BYD shipment).

What it means for companies in the UAE

A car plant is a long supply chain, and the announcement is precise about the part of it that has moved to Abu Dhabi: more than 80 types of components are now sub-assembled locally, and the target for next year is 20,000 cars. In practice this creates work for several groups of companies:

• Suppliers and contract manufacturers. Local sub-assembly means local demand for parts, materials, tooling, packaging, quality testing and logistics. The Borouge example shows the route: a materials agreement in May 2025 became 17 production components within a year. A supplier needs an industrial or trading licence in the UAE, and a certificate under the National In-Country Value (ICV) Programme improves its position in procurement by ADNOC and other government-linked buyers.
• Automotive services. Fleet operators, leasing companies, workshops, parts distributors and insurers gain a locally assembled model with a parts hub in Jebel Ali and a manufacturer whose headquarters is in Abu Dhabi rather than abroad.
• Exporters and logistics companies. KEZAD sits next to Khalifa Port, and ROX’s stated plan is to export from Abu Dhabi to regional and international markets. Freight forwarders, customs brokers and traders working on Africa and Asia routes get a new UAE-origin product; under the UAE’s Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements, goods that meet the rules of origin enter partner markets at reduced tariffs.
• Investors in the sector. ADIO’s AED 1.5 billion in support for new and expanded factories announced in May 2026 and KEZAD’s industrial land and warehousing are the entry points; the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development issues mainland industrial licences, and KEZAD issues free zone licences with 100% foreign ownership.

Checklist for a company that wants to work with the new automotive cluster in Abu Dhabi:

• Choose the licence: a KEZAD free zone licence for manufacturing, assembly or logistics, or an Abu Dhabi mainland industrial licence if the business will sell directly across the UAE.
• Register in the National ICV Programme and obtain an ICV certificate if the customers are government-linked manufacturers and buyers.
• Apply for the Made in the Emirates mark for products that are made in the UAE and meet national standards (MoIAT, AED 100 for three years).
• Open a corporate bank account before signing supply contracts: manufacturers and their financing banks check the banking side of a supplier during onboarding.
• Plan the visas: engineers, quality staff and drivers need work permits and residency through the free zone or the mainland employer.

How Atlant Capital can help

Atlant Capital works with founders and companies entering the UAE, including manufacturers, suppliers and trading businesses. We handle company setup on the mainland and in UAE free zones, including the choice between a KEZAD licence and an Abu Dhabi mainland industrial licence and the activities that match a supply, assembly or logistics business; corporate bank account opening, with the compliance file prepared in advance for a business model that banks review carefully; and work visas and residency for founders and staff. Accounting, VAT and corporate tax are handled by licensed accounting firms from our partner network.

Conclusion

On 4 September 2026 ROX moved from agreements to output: a 10,000 square metre AI manufacturing centre in KEZAD is building ADAMAS SUVs with more than 80 locally sub-assembled component types, the first three cars carry the Made in the Emirates mark, and the plan runs from 20,000 vehicles in 2027 to 300,000 a year by 2030. The AI Lab, the Design Studio and the ADAMAS Abu Dhabi Edition due in March 2027 add design and software work to assembly. For companies in the UAE the practical consequence is a new industrial customer in Abu Dhabi with a stated localisation plan, and a checklist that starts with the right licence, an ICV certificate and a bank account.

FAQ

Where is the ROX factory in Abu Dhabi and what does it do?

The ROX Advanced AI Manufacturing Centre covers 10,000 square metres inside Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD Group, part of AD Ports Group). It sub-assembles more than 80 types of vehicle components locally and performs complete vehicle assembly, calibration, rain testing, road testing and final inspection. Production started in September 2026 with the first three ROX ADAMAS SUVs carrying the Made in the Emirates mark.

How many cars will ROX build in the UAE?

According to the WAM report of 4 September 2026, the facility is expected to provide an initial production capacity of 20,000 vehicles in 2027, with plans to increase it to 300,000 vehicles a year by 2030. The cars are intended for the UAE market and for export to regional and international markets. ROX estimates that the full capacity could contribute up to 10% of the Operation 300bn target.

What is the Made in the Emirates mark?

It is the national mark for UAE-made products launched by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology on 31 May 2023. It indicates that a product complies with national quality and safety standards. Companies apply for a licence to use the mark on the ministry’s website; it is issued under Cabinet Resolution No. 10 of 2018 for a fee of AED 100 covering three years.

What is the ROX ADAMAS Abu Dhabi Edition and when will it be shown?

It is the first vehicle designed in the UAE, developed by ROX’s new Design Studio in Abu Dhabi with Design Commission Abu Dhabi and Al Khaznah Leathers, with a design inspired by Khoos, the Emirati craft of palm frond weaving. ROX plans to unveil it in Abu Dhabi in March 2027.