The Automotive Partnership With Italy Reaches The Stage Of Materialization

With the date set for the inauguration of the Fiat automotive factory in Tafraoui, in the province of Oran, which is expected next Monday, the Algerian-Italian partnership has already entered the stage of materialization and was achieved in just one year, awaiting another that will accompany this industrial project through handling companies to produce vehicle spare parts.
At the end of May 2022, there was an official working visit that took the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to Italy, during which he met several high-ranking officials of this European country, such as President Sergio Mattarella and former Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and the desire of the Algerian side to establish a partnership was clear  in the industrial field, according to the “win-win” principle.
This was followed on October 13, 2022, by the provisional signature of an agreement between the Ministry of Industry and Fiat, a subsidiary of the Sitilantis Group, to set up a factory for the Italian brand in the Oran region. Only one year and two months elapsed between this date and the inauguration of the Fiat plant in Tafraoui, before this partnership became a reality.
It is clear that the desire for industrial partnership, backed by the support of the leadership of both countries, especially after the exchange of official visits at the highest level between the two parties, played a decisive role in the realization of this industrial project in such a short time.
The embodiment of the industrial partnership was preceded by the start of the marketing of new vehicles of the Italian brand since March 19, 2023. It was thus the first car dealer to receive official accreditation for the activity under the new conditions book, but also the first since 2017, the year that witnessed the extinction of car dealerships due to the cessation of imports at that time.
According to sources linked to the automobile file, to which “Echorouk” spoke, very advanced talks are currently taking place between a number of Italian dealers and their Algerian counterparts, to move forward to embody new partnerships that will accompany the “Fiat” factory in Oran and relate to the local manufacture of vehicle parts in addition to spare parts. Spare parts, and it is likely that a number of them will be revealed after the launch of the Tafraoui unit for the Fiat brand.
According to our sources, these efforts were made in view of the conviction of the officials of the Italian Automobile Industry Association that Algeria could become an automobile pole on the African continent, especially in terms of parts and spare parts, in view of the great competitiveness of the factories that will be set up on Algerian territory, especially in view of the very low cost of energy and also of labor.
The president of the same association, Paolo Scudieri, had stressed, during an economic forum held at the end of May in the city of Turin and dedicated to the prospects for the development of the automotive industry in Algeria, that the bilateral relations between the two countries have been strengthened over several decades, pointing out that Algeria offers very important opportunities and therefore it is the “hub” center most suitable for exporting cars to the African continent and also to the Arab countries.
At the time, Mr. Scudieri considered that the Algerian market also offered good and very competitive conditions, thanks to the lower cost of energy compared to Europe and the rest of North African countries, especially with regard to electricity and gas, which are considered essential resources for the transport sector.