While some automakers have been producing cars in South Africa for decades, Northern Africa countries like Morocco and Algeria have become more and more industrialized with increasing production, and the region is quickly becoming a new hub of automotive manufacturing. Algeria’s no-import rules resulted in a new Volkswagen assembly plant that produces the VW Polo, Skoda Octavia, and SEAT Ibiza and Arona. Foreign investment in the North Africa region grew from $5 billion in 2011 to $12 billion in 2016, most of which was linked to automotive production. Morocco’s car industry has already overtaken South Africa, and its expected to soon be producing more cars than Italy. Morocco has also become a major supplier for European automotive production, supplying seats and other parts to Ford in Spain.

Source: The North Africa Journal October 03, 2018 00:00 UTC