Due to high demand for its affordable Dacia Logan-based sedan in North Africa, French carmaker Renault has announced today that it's opened a new car factory in Algeria.
The plant is located at Oued Tielat, 27 kilometers (17 miles) southwest of Oran. The site is the first of its kind in the country and has a total surface area of 151 hectares. The new Renault Algerie Production plant is jointly owned 49% by the Renault Group, 34% by SNVI (Societee Nationale des Vehicules Industriels - Algeria) and 17% by the Algerian National Investment Fund (FNI).
The single model chosen for production in Algeria is the Renault Symbol sedan, mechanically and cosmetically similar to the second-generation Dacia Logan. For now, Oran will only assembles around 25,000 vehicles per year, equivalent to one every 8 and a half minutes or 7 per hour.
Renault Algeria directly employs 350 people, nearly 40% of which are women. Through the parts supply and delivery chains, another 500 jobs have been added to the local economy. Not surprisingly, the opening of the factory was also a politically charged event.
The plant was inaugurated on November 10, 2014 in the presence of Abdelmalek Sellal, the Algerian Prime Minister, Abdesselam Bouchouareb, Algerian Minister of Industry and Mining, Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Emmanuel Macron, French Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs, and of course the omnipresent Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Renault group.
"Renault is proud to be the first carmaker to set up industrial operations in Algeria and thereby contribute to the development of a national automotive industry," Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Renault group.
The future of the young car industry
Most of the body parts and mechanical components will be shipped over from Renault’s Pitesti plant and logistics center in Romania. However, the company hopes to add a body shop, metal stamping center and paint shop. A second phase is planned and could see production tripling to 75,000 vehicles a year (15 vehicles an hour). However a clear timeline has not yet been announced.
Our say: For now, all the production is for the local market. However, Oran is a major port and could very easily export to France and most of the other major European markets. Does Dacia's capped production capacity spell trouble?
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News