The Volkswagen Group has signed a joint venture agreement with Algeria’s Sovac SPA to assemble the Group’s selected vehicles in the country.

The JV agreement was signed in the presence of Abdessellam Bouchouareb, Algerian Minister of Industry; Dr Josef Baumert, member of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles board of management responsible for Production and Logistics; and Andreas Lauenroth, head of Foreign Production of the Volkswagen brand, with Mourad Oulmi, CEO OF Sovac SPA.

From the spring of 2017, the JV company Sovac Production SPA is to produce selected models of the Volkswagen Group.

Commenting on the occasion, Dr Josef Baumert said, “The Volkswagen Group opted for participation in Sovac Production SPA as we have co-operated successfully with our sales partner Sovac for many years. For us, this is a logical step towards increasing vehicle sales in Algeria in the long term.”

Also commenting on the occasion, Andreas Lauenroth said, “For us, local assembly is an effective way of starting production in Algeria. We will be providing targeted training for local employees in quality, production and logistics at the European production facilities of our brands. This will enable us to reach ‘made in Europe’ quality standards in Algeria.”

A new assembly building is being constructed on a site with an area of 150 hectares in the region of Relizane, 220 km to the west of Algiers. From the spring of 2017, Sovac Production SPA will be successively building up production capacity to more than 100 vehicles per day.

The latest Group models Volkswagen Golf, Seat Ibiza, Škoda Octavia and the Caddy from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will then be assembled at Relizane. The Volkswagen Group holds a minority stake in the joint venture. Sovac has been a sales partner for the Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi, Seat, Škoda and Porsche brands since 2001.

The dealership network of the Volkswagen Group in Algeria includes over 100 facilities with 1,650 employees. In 2015, the Volkswagen Group sold 30,000 vehicles in Algeria via the importer Sovac.