Japan’s second largest car maker Nissan Motor Co has announced it will launch a car assembly plant jointly with a local partner in view of meeting local demands for vehicles after the state imposed a ban on imported car.
Nissan Wednesday signed an agreement with Hasnaoui Group in Algiers for the plant that will cost $160 million and create 1,800 jobs.
The plant to be located near the western coastal city of Oran will start production in the first half of 2020 with a capacity of 63,500 vehicles per year.
“Our top priority is to meet local demand but we will think about exporting our product later,” said Peyman Kargar, Nissan’s senior vice president and chairman of operations in Africa, Middle East and India.
The North African oil-and-gas-rich country has prohibited the import of cars as part of national policy to slash public spending due to fall in oil and gas revenues which account for the majority of state earnings.
Hasnaoui group’s owner Sofiane Hasnaoui told media that the partnership seeks to diversify Algerian economy.
The Algerian group will be the largest shareholder in the project.
The future plant in Algeria bolsters the Japanese firm’s presence in Africa where it already has assembly plants in Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa. Ghana in West Africa is expected to house the company’s next factory under an agreement signed last year.