The Tanger region continues to attract a growing volume of investment from global automotive sector players, with announcements accumulating at a sustained pace and Chinese operators taking an increasingly prominent role alongside established Western manufacturers. The combination of proximity to European markets, a competitive cost base, and the strategic logic of the New Silk Roads initiative is drawing Asian industrial groups to Morocco as a preferred relocation destination.
The latest headline project is the arrival of Zhejiang Asia-Pacific Mechanical and Electronic, a Chinese specialist in braking systems and electronic chassis control technologies. The group plans to open its first factory outside China within the Cité Mohammed VI Tanger Tech industrial zone before the end of 2026, with a committed investment of 70 million dollars. In a separate development, Chinese tyre manufacturer Century Tire has redirected to Tanger Automotive City a production unit originally planned for Galicia, Spain, where environmental permitting obstacles blocked the project. The Moroccan investment exceeds 3.6 billion dirhams.
The electric vehicle supply chain is also gaining new players in Tanger. Shanshan, the Chinese group that holds more than 20 percent of the global market for synthetic graphite anodes, is establishing an activity in the zone alongside Canadian partner Falcon Energy Materials. Steel wire producer Shandong Daye has confirmed an investment of over one billion dirhams to create its Daye Morocco subsidiary, targeting an annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes for pneumatic applications. Smaller in scale but representative of the breadth of activity, AEW Automotive Systems has begun construction of an accessories component plant in the Tanger Free Zone for 27 million dirhams.
Western manufacturers are simultaneously deepening their presence at the Tanger Med Zones platform. German mobility solutions leader ZF, carbon fiber specialist Mubea, Romanian plastic injection firm MP Industry, and American climate systems producer Gentherm are all expanding or consolidating operations, reflecting the continued appeal of the platform for established European and American suppliers alongside the wave of Chinese arrivals.
Industry observers note that China’s New Silk Roads strategy is actively channeling Asian manufacturing investment towards Morocco, which is simultaneously capturing industrial relocations from Europe and supply chain installations by Asian groups seeking a competitive base close to the continent. The automotive and components sector has consolidated its position as the principal driver of growth in the northern free zone ecosystem, though the impending application of the European Union’s carbon border adjustment mechanism represents a regulatory variable that the sector will need to anticipate in its investment and export planning.
