Morocco Emerges as Key Automotive Hub as Manufacturers Flee Ukraine Conflict

Since the start of the conflict, several industrialists, such as the Japanese manufacturer of electrical wires and fiber optic cables Sumitomo Electric Industries and the Irish manufacturer of automotive parts Aptiv, have announced their relocation to Morocco.

This choice of several international groups is justified by the attractiveness of Morocco on the industrial level. In recent years, Morocco has continued to gain importance as a supplier country for the automotive industry. The Kingdom has indeed made countless efforts to ensure that the sector is as solid as it is competitive. And thanks to a strategic geographical position, a skilled workforce and robust industrial ecosystems, the country has now become a real pillar of the automotive industry.

In this context, Fitch Solution hopes that this political support will continue. The signing by BYD of a preliminary agreement for the opening of a factory in the city of Tangier and the arrival of Opel, an electric vehicle manufacturer subsidiary of Stellantis, in August 2021, show that the country is also attractive for electric vehicle manufacturers.

According to the Production Risk/Reward Index (RRI) ranking (which rates a country out of 100 based on the risks and benefits of automotive-related activities in the country), Morocco remains the second most popular destination in the Middle East and North Africa region for automotive production and 36th globally.