General Motors and Al Mansour Automotive Co. have announced that the two companies have signed a memorandum to study jointly manufacturing GM electric vehicles in Egypt. According to Mansour Automotive chairman Mohamed Mansour, Mansour Automotive will pursue government support for the new venture.
According to a recent report from Reuters, Mansour indicated that a study may be presented to the Egyptian government in the next two to three months.
“Government support of some kind, to see how we can work together. That will be a new capital investment that we make on our side, and of course hopefully using Egypt as a hub to export to Africa,” Mansour said.
“We have to be ahead of the curve. And this is what we are doing,” Mansour said prior to the signing ceremony on Wednesday.
Headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, Al-Mansour Automotive first established a General Motors dealership and obtained Egyptian sales rights in 1975. GM opened its first Egyptian factory in the ‘80s, with the first Egyptian-produced GM vehicle rolling off the line midway through the decade.
As GM Authority covered back in August, General Motors has considered a possible expansion of its Egyptian operations for months now. Over the summer, General Motors President and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa, Luay Al Shurafa, met with Egyptian Trade and Industry Minister Nevine Gamea in discussions regarding a possible GM expansion in the region. Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has expressed interest in increasing car exports with local electric vehicle production.
Per the recent Reuters report, the Egyptian Ministry of Public Enterprise has indicated that the Egyptian government could provide 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,183 at current exchange rates) to customers who purchase a locally manufactured electric vehicle. What’s more, the Egyptian government has plans to build 3,000 new electric vehicle charging stations around Alexandria and Cairo in the next two years.
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Comments
It’s interesting that Egypt, a country that does not export as much oil as most other midish countries will be doing EVS. Of course it would be beneficial if they would also partner with Israel another country with a lack of its own oil platforms
Julius Rosen
Achieving peace between Israelis and Arabs has been troublesome. Building a car would be next to impossible.
Even though I work at a GM dealership in Canada and tend to focus my readings articles that may help me at work, I find it fascinating learning about GM operations and developments around the world. Thanks for the article!