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Between 2025 and 2030, Morocco’s automotive sector will have the capacity to produce 700,000 to one million vehicles per year, a recent study by French economist Henri-Louis Vedie predicts.
Vedie published last week through the Policy Center for the New South a research paper under the title: “The Automobile — A Strategic Moroccan Sector, Leader in Africa.”
The 30-page report explains, with data and statistics, how Morocco became a continental leader in the automotive sector. It also presents forecasts on the sector’s domestic growth based on the partnership agreements that Morocco has signed with foreign car manufacturers.
Morocco’s automotive sector is 90% export-oriented and 80% of its exports go to Europe, one of the most lucrative markets globally.
“This puts the local added value in constant growth,” the study’s abstract said.
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The report highlighted how in recent years Morocco has overtaken South Africa’s automotive industry, which was a continental leader for a long period of time.
By the year 2030, Morocco will be the largest car producer in Africa followed by South Africa and Egypt.
In 2023, the North African country’s car production will reach 700,000 units, according to Vedie’s calculations, thanks to the new PSA factory in Kenitra. The facility, inaugurated in June 2019, increased the country’s annual production capacity by 100,000 cars and will add 100,000 more units by 2023.
The Somaca factory in Casablanca, with an annual production capacity of 70,000 cars, and the Renault-Nissan unit in Tangier, with a capacity of 340,000 cars, will also push Morocco towards the total capacity of 700,000 vehicles.
Morocco also has the potential to reach an annual production of one million cars between 2025 and 2030 after Chinese automotive operator BYD opens factories in Tangier.
BYD announced its intention to open four electric car factories in Morocco in 2017.
The factories have the objective of producing 300,000 vehicles per year and creating 2,500 direct jobs. The project is currently on stand-by due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but if it goes ahead as planned, Morocco will become the first country in Africa to produce one million cars per year and one of the few in the world.
“Morocco has a qualified workforce and bases its automotive sector on advanced technical and technological skills. Its geographic position also gives it access to two major markets, Europe and Africa,” the study concluded, highlighting some of Morocco’s strengths.
