Morocco’s 2023 Automotive Sector Exports Up 44%

Rabat – Exports from Morocco’s automotive industry reached MAD 33.9 billion ($3.4 billion) in the first three months of 2023, data from Morocco’s Office d’Echange (OE) indicates.

In a monthly report, the OE explains that the monetary value of exports from the automotive industry rose by 44% compared to the same period a year earlier.

Morocco is currently home to Africa’s largest automotive industry. In 2018, the North African country overtook South Africa as the largest manufacturer on the continent.

Morocco’s automotive industry is expected to grow by around $14 billion by 2026, research from advisory firm Mordor Intelligence suggests. The industry is experiencing a positive growth trend, thanks to both foreign investment and government incentives.

Although the pandemic caused a temporary slowdown, Morocco has signed 25 separate trade agreements with various car manufacturers in the EU and the US as of 2021.

Morocco’s car manufacturers are experiencing increasing demand for passenger vehicles, and long-time manufacturers such as Dacia and Renault have been joined by Peugeot, which entered the Moroccan car manufacturing scene in 2019. Chinese manufacturer BYD and German manufacturer Volkswagen have also opened production plants in Morocco.

Luxury automobile manufacturing has also seen significant growth, with the top three producers in the country, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi, all experiencing increased sales.

Experts predict that Morocco will have the capacity to produce a million cars by 2030 and is expected to soon outpace Italy in vehicle production. The car industry accounted for about 19% of the Moroccan GDP in 2019 and is predicted to increase to about 24% by 2022, according to Oxford Business Group.

A large portion of Moroccan-produced vehicles are marked for export to various countries in the EU, and analysts expect this trend to continue as the Moroccan car industry prepares for monumental growth to meet increasing demand in both the domestic and international markets over the next five years.