Renault opens Oran plant, marks start of automotive industry in Algeria

Today is a red-letter day for Algeria. Abdelmalek Sellal, prime minister of Algeria, and Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of Renault, today inaugurated the Oued Tlelat car manufacturing plant in Oran alongside Algerian and French ministers. With an initial production capacity of 25,000 vehicles a year, the plant will contribute to the development of the automotive industry in Algeria.
The Renault Algérie Production plant is a strategic and efficient Algerian plant. It is the result of a robust cooperative initiative between Renault and Algeria that gives birth to an automotive industry in Algeria, the second-largest automotive market on the African continent.

The plant produces the new Renault Symbol with an annual production capacity of 25,000 units. It will be the first vehicle in the country to feature a GPS navigation system. A second phase with an increase to 75,000 vehicles per year is under consideration and will include closer integration of suppliers, as well as body and paint shops.

For Renault, which is the leading carmaker in Algeria and has a market share of over 25 percent, this industrial project is the culmination of more than 90 years’ presence in the country. At end-2013 the Renault group had been the unrivalled leader in the Algerian automotive market for eight years with its Renault and Dacia brands. The project was also brought to fruition through the hard work of men and women. As part of a dynamic recruitment and training policy, close to 350 employees were hired at the plant, 40 percent of them women. In addition, some 500 new jobs were created in subcontracting.

Speaking at the inauguration of the plant Carlos Ghosn said: “Renault is proud to be the first carmaker to set up industrial operations in Algeria and thereby contribute to the development of a national automotive industry.”

Strategic market

Algeria is the largest country in Africa, the Arab world and the Mediterranean Basin. At over 2.4 million square kilometres, it is the world’s tenth-largest country. The Algerian population (37 million) is young (nearly half under 25) and population growth is strong, with estimates for 2050 standing at 50 million. The population is mainly concentrated on the Mediterranean coast.
Algeria, which is the world’s number-four gas producer and number-ten oil producer, has the highest GDP in North Africa and the fourth-highest on the African continent.

Some 425,000 vehicles were sold in the country in 2013, making it Africa’s second-largest automotive market behind South Africa. After a period of strong growth, the market has contracted in 2014, with just over 265,000 vehicle sales through end-September. Algeria also has Africa’s second-largest vehicle population at over three million, the average age of which, 16, is relatively high. A full 70 percent of the vehicles on the road are over 10 years old. The vehicle ownership rate is 100 per 1,000 inhabitants (compared with 500 per 1,000 in Western Europe). The road network is the densest in Africa and continues to grow.    

Oued Tlelat was chosen for the project for its industrial advantages, including its road network, qualified labor and proximity to the port of Oran, as well as for its infrastructure and the quality of the land.  Oran, known as the ‘radiant city’, is Algeria’s second largest urban area, with roughly one million inhabitants, and stands as the economic capital of western Algeria. It is a Mediterranean port city in the northwest of the country, situated on the Gulf of Oran 430 km from the capital city of Algiers. It is the administrative center of the Oran wilaya (province).

Photograph: Abdelmalek Sellal, Algeria’s prime minister, Abdesselam Bouchouareb, Minister of Industry and Mining, Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development,  Emmanuel Macron, Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs and Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault Group, at the opening of the Oued Tlelat car manufacturing plant in Oran, Algeria.