Morocco will soon be the leading vehicle-producing country in Africa, outstripping South Africa, which has long benefited from the presence of a mix of German and Japanese producers. Until relatively recently, North Africa was a minor player in vehicle production with the former Renault-PSA joint-venture plant, Somaca, in Morocco once the main car plant in the region. But this factory, until a recent expansion, never made more than 30-40,000 vehicles and existed only to supply the local market with old models made on a CKD basis.  

In the early 2000s, Renault, supported by extensive incentives from the Moroccan government, opened an all-new factory in Tangiers. It is this factory that has transformed the country’s automotive manufacturing sector…