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Automotive manufacturing giant Stellantis is enhancing its performance by producing Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) at its plant in Kenitra, Morocco.
The website Faro de Vigo reported today that the group’s Kenitra factory will be producing AGVs, with a forecast of 1,000 units per year.
In a similar report, automotive-focused news outlet Wandaloo noted that the company’s Kenitra plant is enhancing its industrial autonomy and supporting local sourcing.
“The AGV workshop at the plant, the first of its kind in the MEA region, illustrates an innovative industrial strategy,” the news outlet said, adding that the plant assembles one AGV every three hours.
Wandaloo indicated that the plant produced 90 AGVs in just four hours, with performance exceeding 150% efficiency.
Morocco’s automotive sector is one of the key players contributing to the country’s economy.
Recent reports have spotlighted Morocco’s emergence as a key player in the sector. Significantly, one report had Morocco overtaking China to become the EU’s top automotive trading partner and further cement the country’s significantly evolving and unprecedented performances in the industrial sector.
With automotive exports to the EU valued at €15.1 billion in 2023, Morocco edged out China, whose exports reached €13.6 billion.
Read also: Stellantis CEO: Morocco Poses Competition for Spanish Automotive Factories
In July last year, Stellantis announced its expansion by acquiring Sopriam – a subsidiary of the Al Mada group.
The acquisition marks a “new chapter in the strengthening of Stellantis’ activities in Morocco, initiated in 2015 as part of a strategic partnership with the Moroccan government,” the company stated.
Stellantis officials have since repeatedly expressed satisfaction with the group’s presence in Morocco.
“Today, our Stellantis factory in Kenitra is already among Stellantis’ best industrial sites, fully contributing to the Group’s regional ambitions to achieve an annual production capacity of one million vehicles by 2030, with local integration exceeding 90%,” Samir Cehrfan, Stellantis Middle East and Africa Operations Director, said in July last year.
The factory aims to double its production capacity to 400,000 vehicles by 2027, he indicated, stressing that the overarching goal is to become the market leader with over 22% market share by 2030.
Morocco’s government is also optimistic about the sector’s prospects, praising its recent performances and describing it as essential for Morocco’s economic ambitions.
The industry “has risen to sustained levels of growth over the last decades,” the country’s Ministry of Industry said recently, noting that such a performance is vital for experts and job creation.
The sector reached an export turnover of MAD 72 billion in 2018 and created more than 116,000 jobs between 2014 and 2018, the ministry said with an overtone of satisfaction with the current figures and hope for its future performances.
