MOROCCO – Stellantis (formerly PSA), a Dutch-domiciled multinational automotive manufacturing corporation, has extended its partnership with Morocco to produce electric cars in the Citroen Ami assembly plant in Kenitra.
The Kenitra plant will also produce the Opel Rocks-e, an electric car recently launched on the international market by German carmaker Opel, a subsidiary of the Stellantis group.
It is a short two-seater of 2.41 metres, which can be driven by young people from the age of 15, especially in Germany, with an AM1 driving licence. The Opel Rocks-e is actually a rebadged Citroën Ami dedicated to the Moroccan and international market.
The electric car has a range of 75 kilometres, with a top speed of up to 45 km/h. According to Opel, this makes the electric car ideal for daily urban traffic, not only for young drivers, but also for those who want to travel emission-free and don’t want to spend a lot of time looking for a parking space at their destination.
According to Samir Cherfran, Stellantis Chief Operating Officer for the Middle East and Africa region, production of the Opel Rocks-e in Morocco will benefit from an ecosystem of local suppliers and a talented and diverse team at the Kenitra plant.
The new electric car is equipped with a 5.5 kWh battery that can be recharged in 3.5 hours via a household outlet. This entry-level electric vehicle could therefore meet the current requirements for ecological mobility.
This comes a month after STMicroelectronics, a French-Italian multinational electronics and semiconductors manufacturer, announced that it is set to inaugurate a new electric vehicles (EV) chip production at its facility in Bouskoura, Morocco.
The plant will be dedicated to producing electronic chips for Tesla after STMicroelectronics won a contract with the American electric automaker. Initial production has already begun on the company’s existing lines.
The announcement makes Morocco the first African country to fully venture into the emerging market of electric vehicle export. Globally, there has been a biting shortage of microchips: the Covid-19 pandemic increased demand for personal electronics, outstripping supply.
