French Auto Supplier Faurecia to Build 3rd Plant in Morocco
French company Faurecia, a world leader in car parts manufacturing, is planning to build in Morocco its third plant specialized in car interiors and emissions control devices.
The plant will open its doors next year in the coastal city of Kenitra, Faurecia Chief Executive Patrick Koller said in a statement, following the inauguration of the company’s second Moroccan production site, a seating facility, in Salé, capital Rabat’s twin city.
The seating plant represents an investment of €15.4 million and employs 1,300 workers making seat covers and leather trim for vehicles such as the Peugeot 3008 and 5008, as well as Opel models built at PSA plants.
Faurecia is the 8th largest international automotive parts manufacturer in the world. In 2013, it was No-1 for vehicle interiors and emission control technology. One in four automobiles is equipped by Faurecia. It designs and manufactures seats, exhaust systems, interior systems (dashboards, center consoles, door panels, acoustic modules) and decorative aspects of a vehicle (aluminum, wood).
Faurecia’s customers include the Volkswagen group, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault-Nissan, Ford, General Motors, BMW, Daimler, Fiat/Chrysler, Toyota and Hyundai-Kia among others.
Headquartered in Nanterre, France, Faurecia employs 5,500 engineers and technicians. The company operates over 320 production sites and 30 R&D centers in 34 countries worldwide, with 460 patents filed in 2012.
About half of these sites are manufacturing plants operating on the just-in-time principle. Faurecia joined the United Nations Global Compact in 2004. While French car manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroën is Faurecia’s controlling shareholder, holding around 57.4 pc stake, Faurecia is run as an independent company.
Groupe Renault has just celebrated the one millionth car built at a factory in Morocco. Based in the city of Tangier, the Renault-Nissan factory builds vehicles for more than 70 countries.
Its landmark car, sold to a customer in Turkey, was a diesel-powered, five-seat Dacia Lodgy, finished in azurite blue.
Half of all Renault-owned Dacia cars are produced in Morocco, either at the Tangier plant or in Casablanca, where Renault cars have been produced since 1966. Since its inauguration in 2012, the Tangier factory has produced 478,840 Dacia Sanderos, 320,780 Dacia Dokkers and 193,181 Dacia Lodgys. The Dacia Logan MCV is also produced at the factory.
The plant has a production capacity of 340,000 vehicles annually and 7,939 employees who work eight-hour shifts, six days a week. It is the first factory designed by Groupe Renault with zero CO2 emissions as 90 per cent of the complex’s power comes from renewable sources, such as a biomass heating plant on site.
François Mariotte, sales and marketing director of Dacia, said: “Dacia is a fast-growing brand that has benefited considerably from the performance of the Tangier plant.”
“Since its construction in 2012, the plant has experienced an exceptional ramp-up and achieved the expected quality level in record time thanks to its trained and skilled staff. The Tangier plant is inseparable from Dacia’s success story.”
