Morocco Lures Auto Wheel Makers

Morocco is on its way to become the world’s third largest producer of aluminum wheels as it continues to attract investments by world automotive industry giants.

On July 26, China’s Citic Dicastal signed a deal with the Moroccan government to build two plants for auto wheel production in Morocco with an investment of €350 million ($407.5 million).

The deal was signed in Rabat by the Moroccan Ministers of Economy and Industry, Mohamed Boussaid and Moulay Hafid Elalamy, respectively, as well as Chairman of Citic Dicastal Xu Zuo.

The leading Chinese group targets the production of 6 million wheels annually, 90 percent of them will be exported abroad.

The plants, which will be built in the northern cities of Kenitra and Tangier, will create some 1,200 jobs.

Citic Dicastal project adds to an investment by South Korea’s giant Hands corporation in Rabat which also set up a factory in Tangier with a production capacity of 8 million wheels.

The two companies will put Morocco on the map as the third aluminum wheels producer globally.

Morocco raised its automotive industry target to 1 million vehicle by 2025 in light of the positive results shown by the sector, which could generate 200 billion dirhams.

Morocco’s car industry is moving at a faster pace to achieve the goal of 600,000 cars and 100 billion dirhams by 2020.

In 2017, Morocco’s two leading car factories by Renault and PSA Peugeot in Tangier and Kenitra respectively achieved a joint output of 376,000, worth 70 billion dirhams.

Between 2014 and 2017, total jobs created in the automotive sector rose to 83,845.