Family-owned group Ali & Sons eyes possibility of manufacturing flying cars in UAE
22 May 2025 02:21
SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)For more than 40 years, the family-owned conglomerate Ali & Sons Holding has played a key role in the UAE's industrial growth, expanding its operations across major sectors. As the nation accelerates into an era of smart technologies and autonomous systems, the group is keeping pace — now setting its sights on manufacturing flying cars right in the UAE.Founded in 1979, Ali & Sons operates in three major verticals: energy and industrial; investments and real estate; and the mobility and automobile sector, where it is widely recognised as exclusive distributors of Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, Skoda, MG, and Xpeng.As technological transformations reshape industries, the conglomerate is boldly looking to the future, driven by the UAE's vision of innovation and advancement.
In an interview with Aletihad at Make it in the Emirates, Saeed Al Dhaheri, Managing Director for Investments at Ali & Sons Holding, revealed that the company is now looking at flying cars. 'As the agent of [EV manufacturer] Xpeng in the UAE, we are exploring not only distributing but potentially manufacturing flying cars locally,' Al Dhaheri said.While the major project is still in the exploratory phase, the group has been actively scaling its local manufacturing capabilities, serving priority sectors for the UAE.'One of the local manufacturing initiatives we have includes seamless pipes, RTP pipes, STP pumps, and other products — all aligned with the UAE's strategic vision,' Al Dhaheri said.'These are sectors of interest to the UAE government, and we are leveraging our local experience and capabilities to manufacture locally.'Al Dhaheri lauded the government's steadfast commitment to supporting its industries.'The government has provided a lot of incentives to promote local manufacturing in the UAE. They have introduced a methodology—ICV or in-country value—to evaluate companies based on their local value-add,' he said.'We ensure that our products and services remain commercially viable in terms of price and quality when compared globally—and thankfully, we've been able to excel in this area.'In the energy and industrial sectors, the group holds a diverse portfolio. 'That is where we have our local contracting business, our oil and gas products and services, and our original equipment manufacturing (OEM) division,' Al Dhaheri explained.'We manufacture equipment used in both upstream and downstream services and products within the oil and gas industry.'Ali & Sons has been partner of ADNOC for at least 46 years now. 'We are one of the top five stakeholders with ADNOC. One of our subsidiaries, Ali & Sons Oilfields and Supplies, has been collaborating with ADNOC since 1979,' he said.
'We provide a full spectrum of services from upstream to downstream, and there are certain products for which we are the only provider to ADNOC due to our competitiveness and in-country value.'
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