 Asian car makers negociate project in Morocco
Reuters, Tuesday April 21 2009
* Morocco negotiates Asian car projects
* Discussing plants of around 200,000 capacity
CASABLANCA, April 21 (Reuters) - Asian carmakers are in talks with the Moroccan government to set up plants with a capacity that could exceed 200,000 cars a year, a local car industry group said on Tuesday.
French carmaker Renault is already planning a plant on that scale, and Adil Bennani, the chairman of Givet, which groups importers of cars and other vehicles from outside the European Union, said the Asian makers could equal or top that.
"Carmakers from Japan and other Asian countries are in talks with the authorities here to set up factories with capacities similar to Renault's or bigger than that," said Bennani. He said the ongoing negotiations involved top managers from unnamed Asian car manufacturers and Moroccan government officials, but he declined to give further details, including whether Rabat authorities were negotiating with several Asian carmakers at the same time with the aim of reaching deals on more than one factory.
"The negotiations were under way and they are shrouded in secrecy because of fierce competition from another North African country which seeks to lure such projects," Bennani told a news conference.
He did not name the competing country.
But Bennani said at least one of the Asian carmakers was negotiating to set up a plant to export cars to North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
"This company has an industrial project with a regional vision involving North Africa and other areas in Africa, including the Sub Sahara region," he added.
Government officials at industry and trade ministries were not immediately available for comment.
The Rabat government wants to make Morocco into a hub for the car industry, as it maximises its free trade agreements with the European Union and United States and several Arab countries. Last year, Renault signed a deal with Morocco to build a new factory that would be able to produce up to 200,000 cars a year from 2010, and eventually up to 400,000 a year.
The planned investments in manufacturing capacity were estimated at 600 million euros, with a first phase of 350 million euros.
Further specific investment of 200-400 million euros would be made according to the type of vehicles produced.
Renault already has a major presence in Morocco, where it produces the low-cost Logan car.
Its plant in Morocco will manufacture cheaper cars for developing markets under the Renault/Dacia brand and small utility vehicles under the Nissan brand, with 90 percent of the plant output for export.
Morocco is confident that the global economic downturn will not derail the Renault project, though ministers have suggested it might be delayed.
The number of cars sold in the country's domestic market is expected to triple to about 3 million by 2012 on the back of economic growth and a rising middle class in the main cities, according to estimates by Givet.
(Reporting by Lamine Ghanmi, editing by Will Waterman) | 
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