Last month, Nexteer Automotive hosted a ceremony with customers, employees and government officials — including
Morocco’s Industry Minister, Moulay Elalamy — to celebrate the opening of its first African plant.
Located in Kenitra, this new facility will manufacture electric power steering (EPS) systems for Groupe PSA, as well as driveline systems for FCA, Groupe PSA and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. The company expects to employ around 500 people at the Kenitra plant by 2020.
Tao Liu, global chief operating officer for Nexteer Automotive (
www.nexteer.com), said: “The new Morocco plant is another milestone in our on-going plan for global footprint diversification and expansion in regions strategically important to our key customers.
“As Nexteer’s first plant in Africa, this facility will enable us to further support customer needs for our industry-leading motion control solutions across Africa and Europe.”
The systems produced at the Kenitra plant for Groupe PSA will include single-pinion EPS systems, while the driveline systems will include half-shafts for new generations of some of the best-selling models from FCA, Groupe PSA and
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.
Construction of the 10,000m
2 Kenitra facility began in Q1 2018 and took only nine months; production is scheduled to start this September.
Nexteer Automotive is a multi-billion-dollar global steering and driveline business delivering electric and hydraulic power steering systems, steering columns, driveline systems, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving technologies for original equipment manufacturers.