The editorial staff of “Barlamane.com”
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17:03 – January 8, 2025
“Our real competitors [dans le domaine de l’industrie automobile] could be European countries and Morocco”according to the Turkish operator Doğan Trend.
The Turkish group Doğan Trend announced, Wednesday January 8, significant progress in its collaboration with the Chinese manufacturer SAIC Motor, as part of the creation of an automobile factory in Turkey. Doğan Trend CEO Kagan Dağtekin said in a statement that Turkish officials will visit Shanghai on January 10 at the invitation of SAIC Motor, to advance this project. According to him, this collaboration, in preparation for a year, could redefine the automotive industry in the region.
In addition to this project, Doğan Trend also mentioned a factory in Egypt, developed with MG’s partner, whose annual production capacity reaches 50,000 vehicles. This factory targets local markets as well as several countries in Africa and the Middle East. Dağtekin nevertheless wanted to clarify that this Egyptian initiative does not constitute an alternative to the Turkish project, but a complementary strategy. “Our real competitors could be European countries and Morocco,” he underlined, thus placing the kingdom at the heart of discussions as a key player in industrial competition in the automobile sector.
Morocco has established itself in recent years as a key platform for the automotive industry in Africa, attracting significant international investments. Its growing infrastructure network and free trade agreements with major markets make it a serious competitor for projects like Doğan Trend and SAIC Motor in Turkey. Furthermore, Morocco has recently hosted several strategic projects, particularly in the production of electric and hybrid vehicles. These advances allow it to compete directly with major automobile manufacturing centers in Europe and the Middle East.
In Türkiye, another ambitious project was initiated by the Chinese manufacturer BYD, with an investment of one billion dollars in a factory for the production of electric and hybrid vehicles. Planned in the province of Manisa (in the west of the country), this factory targets a capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year from 2026, and will create up to 5,000 jobs.
