The plant, which will be operational by 2019, will produce engines and vehicles covering the local needs of the region. Its production capacity will be 90,000 vehicles per year at startup to reach 200,000 units.

On Thursday, the French group PSA (Peugeot, Citroën and DS) clarified the outlines of its first Moroccan factory, located in Kénitra near Rabat, also confirming its ambitions in Africa and the Middle East. Following the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Morocco, the head of PSA Carlos Tavares declared on Thursday that this production unit will start in 2019; he claimed to «respect the schedule".

Its initial capacity will be 90,000 vehicles per year. The plant, located in Kénitra, north of Rabat, with a part of the production of engines whose works were launched on Thursday, "will be at the forefront of industrial performance, with a local integration rate (Parts manufactured locally) well above 60%, "said Rémi Cabon, CEO of Peugeot Citroën Automobiles Morocco, a subsidiary of PSA.

4,500 direct jobs and 20,000 indirect ones

The future plant is expected to represent 4,500 direct full-time jobs and 20,000 indirect jobs, particularly among OEMs, according to its promoters. The Minister of Industry, Moulay Hafid Elalamy, who has made the development of the automobile sector a priority, welcomed "this joint realization".

The automotive sector is now "the first Moroccan exporter", according to him. "We reached 60 billion dirhams of export (5.5 billion euros), with a prospect in 2019 to 100 billion," Elalamy told AFP, confident to be in "advanced negotiation" with other Car manufacturers.

Carlos Tavares also said that the Africa and Middle East region was a "major pillar" of the group's growth. "Our volumes have more than doubled between 2014 and 2016. Our ambition is to sell one million vehicles by 2025 for this region and to produce no less than 70% of these vehicles," he said.

The announcement of the arrival of a second major automaker in Morocco, after Renault which has a mega-factory near Tangier, had been made in June 2015, with an investment of 557 million euros . PSA sold 3.15 million vehicles in 2016 worldwide and a net profit of 2.15 billion euros (+79%) with a margin of 6%.

Meanwhile, the Renault Group Morocco celebrated Tuesday the export of its millionth vehicle manufactured in its Moroccan factories of Tangier and Casablanca, respectively in operation since 2012 and 2007.

Original Source : tsa-algerie.com

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