Government efforts to revitalize the local car industry have reignited the public interest of how strengthening this sector can meet local demand and improve export potential for regional buyers.
In a bid to inform people about car manufacturing in Egypt, this article is aimed to highlight the active car makers operating inside the country and the various vehicles they assemble.
During the 1960s the local manufacturer El Nasr had a virtual monopoly over the car making scene, with the virtue of German and Italian cooperation as well as being a nationalized company, creating popular models like the Fiat 128 and the homegrown Ramses models.
El Nasr didn’t stop at cars, making tractors for agricultural use with Yougoslavian assistance as well as buses, trucks, and trailers. This was thanks to a skilled workforce bolstered with European knowhow but all that changed with shifts in the political scene through the 70s till the 90s.
In the years following the political rift with the Eastern Bloc and the promotion of free trade many private manufacturers teamed up with high profile car brands such as GM and Mansour Autos in the 1990s.
This trend grew to include manufacturers from Germany (Mercedes & BMW), Korea, and that relied on assembly rather than making parts outright in Egypt due to the lack of technical experience to make complex electronics in the country.
There were a number of export treaties that made Egypt a good launch pad for Arab, African, and even European markets, and that encouraged more and more firms to come, culminating in the highest numbers of cars made up until the 2011 Revolution.
With 16 factories producing more than 110 thousand vehicles annually in 2010, this number dropped drastically in the following years of instability which prompted many car makers to pull out their employees and freeze manufacturing.
Today the industry has not fully recovered to pre 2011 levels but the recent government efforts to make ventures between El Nasr and Chinese electric car makers are underway with high hopes of bringing the auto industry back to the forefront of Egyptian manufacturing efforts.
