The major car manufacturers such as Renault and Peugeot, after having relocated a large part of their production to Eastern Europe, are now turning to Africa, both for their production units and a growing consumer market.
Africa: the new El Dorado for carmakers
Manufacturers believe that the African continent, with its 1.2 billion inhabitants, constitutes a growth driver on a global scale, particularly due to the gradual emergence of a middle class with access to the acquisition of new vehicles.
The Kingdom of Morocco: Africa’s leader in the automotive sector
Morocco has emerged as a hub of the automotive industry and the leading car manufacturer in Africa. The country stands out in the global market due to its growing automotive base and proximity to the European market.
The country has a production capacity of 700,000 vehicles per year which can potentially generate 160,000 jobs. Economic experts predict that the country will be able to produce one million vehicles in the short term.
The automotive sector is the leading industrial export sector in the Kingdom. The manufactured vehicles are exported to 75 countries in the world.
Morocco has become the leading car maker in Africa since 2017 and during the year 2021, it has positioned itself as the second largest exporting country to the European Union.
Phéniciafrica, a subsidiary of Phénicia Conseil in Morocco, is regularly solicited by the Human Resources Departments of automotive groups and equipment manufacturers to recruit talent in Morocco for all types of positions: Sales, Supply Chain, After Sales Service, Maintenance, Engineering, Purchasing…
South Africa demonstrates its ambitions for leadership
South Africa, in its quest to regain its status as a leader in the automotive industry, demonstrates its ambitions. It does not lack assets to achieve this goal, given the history of its industry which is the oldest in Africa.
More than half of South Africa’s automotive production is exported all over the world, while the country imports nearly 350,000 new vehicles per year, making it the largest importer of new vehicles on the African continent.
South Africa’s goal is to make the automotive industry one of the strategic sectors to diversify its national economy and emerge from its dependence on raw materials.
Phénicia conseil, an international recruitment agency, is regularly solicited by the Human Resources Departments of international automotive groups to recruit expatriate candidates for various functions: Purchasing, Business Development, Finance, Supply Chain…
Egypt intends to catch up
In addition to tourism and energy, Egypt intends to make the automotive industry a flagship of its economic development.
The country wants to catch up with the two major African car manufacturers: Morocco and South Africa, with the aim of increasing national vehicle production to 500,000 units by the end of 2022.
A special effort will be made to produce electric cars, a segment in which the country intends to become a major sub-regional player.
Algeria in free fall
The picture is bleak: factories closed, bosses imprisoned, and thousands of employees out of work….
The project to build car assembly plants, which was supposed to be Algeria’s industrial flagship, has failed, forcing the authorities to restart from scratch.
Whilst waiting to develop a real car industry in Algeria, imports have been frozen and dealers have been left idle. The situation is dramatic: the country does not produce and no longer lets vehicles enter its territory.
The state of disrepair in which the premises of most car dealerships are found illustrate the decay of the automotive market in Algeria: disused warehouses, former showrooms abandoned, windows opaque with dust, hundreds of exhibition spaces and maintenance abandoned…
The time is long gone when young salesmen, mechanics, security guards or engineers provided their services of sales, maintenance and technical assistance to customers who flocked by the hundreds during the day…
The Hyundai group has suspended its presence in Algeria due to the indecision of the authorities on the issue of the revival of vehicle imports and Volkswagen has broken its partnership with Sovac Algeria.
This dramatic context has led to the loss of 30000 direct jobs.
In conclusion, the automotive sector in Algeria is waiting for a real industry with strong governmental decisions and enterprise managers endowed with an irreproachable ethics and professionalism.
Phénicia conseil, an international recruitment firm, is one of the best experts in the field of Human Resources in Algeria due to the strategic positions held by its managers and their contribution to the recruitment of talents in all sectors of activity.
Nigeria, Ghana, and Rwanda: the Outsiders
In Ivory Coast, the Franco-Italian group Iveco is counting on local production for the Ivorian market with an assembly bus unit in Abidjan and an investment of nearly 70 million euros.
The aim is to produce Mini Buses made in Ivory Coast.
The assembly line represents an investment of 45 billion CFA francs with a production capacity of 1,000 vehicles of the bus type with 18 to 26 seats marketed under the brand “Daily Ivoire”.
Phenicia Conseil, an international recruitment firm, is one of the leaders in Human Resources in Ivory Coast and is actively involved in the recruitment of talents in the automotive sector.
With 200,000 registered vehicles and a population of 12 million, Rwanda is a modest market for the automotive industry. However, in addition to the sale of vehicles, Volkswagen offers urban mobility solutions to public institutions and enterprises through its “Volkswagen Mobility Solution in Kigali”.
This consists of an Uber-like car-sharing system as well as a community car-sharing service aimed mainly at enterprises in Kigali.
Ghana has put in place a strategy to improve its business landscape and thus attract more foreign direct investment.
The country’s aim is to be among the top 100 in the world and the top 5 in Africa in the World Bank’s Doing Business ranking.
Several multinationals have made announcements regarding both the automotive and hospitality sectors in Ghana. Toyota’s car assembly plant, in addition to Volkswagen’s, puts Ghana at the forefront of West Africa’s automotive sector.
Phénicia conseil: HR partner of automotive manufacturers on the African continent
Phénicia conseil: International recruitment firm specialized in the recruitment of talents on the African continent and the Middle East provides advice to the Human Resources Departments of automotive groups on all HR issues: Recruitment, Career Management, Outplacement, Consulting on Transformation, Innovation and Change Management Projects, HR Organization Consulting.
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