The plant is owned 49% by the Renault group, 34% by SNVI (Société Nationale des Véhicules Industriels – Algeria) and 17% by the Algerian National Investment Fund (FNI).

The plant is located at Oued Tlelat, 27km southwest of Oran and follows an investment of €50m. Its current production capacity is 25,000 vehicles a year but a second phase could see this number tripled to 75,000 vehicles a year.  

The first model being produced at the new plant is the Renault Symbol, intended for the local market. Most of the parts come from Renault’s Pitesti plant and logistics centre in Romania.

The new plant was inaugurated in the presence of Abdelmalek Sellal, the Algerian Prime Minister, Abdesselam Bouchouareb, Algerian Minister of Industry and Mining, Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Emmanuel Macron, French Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs, and Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO of the Renault group.

Renault has currently been present in the Algerian market for over 90 years and says at the end of last year the group had been the unrivalled leader in the Algerian automotive market for eight years with its Renault and Dacia brands.

Algeria is the largest country in Africa, the Arab world and the Mediterranean Basin. Some 425,000 vehicles were sold in the country in 2013, making it Africa’s second-largest automotive market behind South Africa. After a period of strong growth, the market has contracted in 2014, with just over 265,000 vehicle sales through end-September.