Morocco Wins Citroën C4 Production from Spain by 2029

By 2029, manufacturing of the French compact car will permanently leave Madrid for Kénitra. Inaugurated in 2019, the Moroccan plant has benefited from colossal investments exceeding 1.2 billion euros to increase its capacity to over half a million vehicles per year. These new ultra-modern production lines will welcome the future electric, hybrid and thermal architectures of the model.

On Bladi.net : Stellantis Shakes Up European Auto Industry: Madrid Plant Faces Uncertain Future

This relocation is part of a vast cost-reduction strategy. To resist the price war imposed by Asia’s automotive industry in Europe, the company is relying on Morocco, which has become a highly competitive industrial hub. This cost attractiveness is already seducing other manufacturers, like the Dacia Sandero, Europe’s best-selling car last year, assembled in Casablanca and Tangier.

The decision strikes hard at the Spanish sector, depriving the Villaverde plant of a vehicle it has produced for over fifteen years. Created in the nineteen fifties, this site, which passed under Barreiros and then PSA ownership, has undergone numerous technological transformations. As Diariomotor indicates, this evolution illustrates a heavy trend on the continent, similar to the upheavals experienced by the Ford Almussafes manufacturing plant.

On Bladi.net : Stellantis to Shift Citroën C4 Production from Spain to Morocco by 2027

The Madrid infrastructure nonetheless escapes total closure. Operation of the assembly lines will be entrusted to the local subsidiary of Leapmotor. Stellantis aims to build a Chinese electric vehicle there to supply the European market. This project could even result in the definitive transfer of plant ownership to the joint venture formed by the two brands.