For the first time in its history, Morocco is leading the way among car manufacturing hubs on the African continent, notably ahead of South Africa. The Kingdom is slowly approaching its ultimate goal: joining the world’s top 7 car-manufacturing countries.
In recent years, Morocco, under the impetus of King Mohammed VI, has bet heavily on the automotive industry for the country’s development. Industry giants have thus set up in the Kingdom, such as Renault in Tangier and Peugeot in Kenitra, not forgetting the forthcoming arrival of the Chinese group BYD Auto Industry. The results are beginning to be felt, and according to the Wall Street Journal, Morocco is officially the largest car manufacturing hub in Africa.
A performance attributable to major “efforts and investments in the automotive sector, the diversification of industries and trades, the restructuring of this industry into business ecosystems, the introduction of appropriate support and financing schemes and the improvement of the sector’s integration, in line with its Industrial Acceleration Plan (PAI)”, the American daily points out. Morocco, which pips South Africa to the post in this ranking, should thus also “produce more cars than Italy”, the author of the article asserts.
The major global manufacturers look favourably on the enormous growth potential in this region of Africa, and this should benefit Morocco. While the Kingdom currently produces 650,000 vehicles a year, it aims to quickly pass the one million mark by 2020 and thus join the global Top 7 of the automotive industry.