Morocco: the automobile sector speeds up
He congratulated the network of automotive equipment manufacturers to be world class, during the signing ceremony organised at the Royal Palace in Casablanca in the presence of King Mohammed VI, several ministers, Moroccan businessmen and foreign bosses in the automotive sector
On Saturday, it was also at the royal palace in Casablanca and in presence of the king that the Chinese giant BYD (“Build Your Dreams”) signed an agreement for the installation of an electric car factory near Tangiers
The memorandum of understanding with BYD also provides for the eventual construction of three other factories (electric batteries, electric buses and trucks, electric trains). No information has been released on the amount of investment planned in Morocco, neither on the date of commissioning of the sites.
However, the new investments signed on Monday are “in progress or will be committed in the next few days”, the president of the Moroccan Association for the Automobile Industry and Trade (Amica), Hakim Abdelmoumen, told it to AFP. They concern French as well as Spanish, Japanese or American equipment manufacturers (aluminium rims, dashboards, bumpers…), according to information obtained in Casablanca.
Top 7 worldwide
The Renault brand has signed six agreements with equipment manufacturers as part of a “Renault ecosystem”, while PSA has signed 13 agreements for the development of its own in the kingdom, according to the informations obtained at the signing ceremony
The French equipment manufacturer Valeo has signed two agreements, and the other five investments will be made as part of the development of the cabling and connections ecosystem
For several years, Morocco has been leading an ambitious industrialisation strategy, especially in Tangiers (North), a city of one million inhabitants with a deep-water port and a free zone, where several industrial parks have been developed. This dynamic mainly concerns the automobile and aeronautics sectors, while the textile industry is going through a period of crisis
With these investments, Morocco be close to its goal of joining the world’s top 7 automotive industry in the coming years, according to the Moroccan agency MAP
First exporter
The automotive sector has become the country’s leading exporter, ahead of phosphates, a pillar of the Moroccan economy, in terms of export value, according to information released Monday by the Moroccan authorities
The automotive industry has reached an export turnover of 70 billion dirhams (6.5 billion euros), and is aiming for 100 billion by 2020, according to the Moroccan Minister of Industry, who has made the development of ecosystems his battle horse
In 2012, Renault opened its largest plant in Africa in Morocco, in the Tangiers free zone, with 1.1 billion euros invested and 7,000 employees today
For its part, PSA has started the construction of a factory in Kenitra, north of Rabat, where 90,000 vehicles should be produced annually from 2019, with an integration rate (in other words, parts manufactured on site) of at least 60.