Renault, Suppliers To Invest $1 Billion In Moroccan Component Production

The investment will help raise Renault's local sourcing of components to 65 percent from 32 percent and is projected to generate 20 billion dirhams in revenues, Morocco's industry minister, Moulay Hafid Elalamy, said.

Renault has two car plants in the country. Its modern factory in Tangier produces Dokker, Lodgy and Sandero models alongside body pressings for export. The second older plant in Casablanca builds Logan and Sandero models.

"Renault ecosystem means that around Renault plants in Tangier and Casablanca, many other companies are coming to invest and make the parts that will shape a Renault car," the minister said, though he declined to say to give an exact figure on Renault's investment in the project.

The director of the company's Africa, Middle East and India region, Bernard Cambier, also declined to give details but said that at least 15 component makers are committed to invest in the project.

Renault's Tangier car factory, the biggest in North Africa, required initial investment of 600 million euros ($683.70 million) and is expected to reach an annual production capacity of 400,000 vehicles in the coming years.

PSA plant

Morocco expects auto industry exports to reach 100 billion dirhams a year by 2020 as a result of PSA/Peugeot-Citroen's decision last year to build a 557 million euro factory in the country, slated to produce 200,000 vehicles a year.

The country has attracted a number of big auto and aerospace investors in recent years, including Delphi, Bombardier and Eaton Corp.

Unlike many countries in the region, Morocco has managed to avoid a big drop in foreign investments in the wake of the global financial crisis and the Arab Spring uprising