The return of state-owned El Nasr Automotive was the main focus on many of the talk shows last night, as news that the firm has officially restarted operations after a 15-year hiatus caught the attention of the nation’s hosts.

Some hosts looked back on how the country’s first automaker helped shape the country’s industrial sector, with Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa detailing how the company went from a regional leader in the auto industry in the twentieth century to being liquidated in the early 2000s. Moussa went on to describe the state’s efforts to revive the company starting in 2017, which saw a steady process of upgrading the company’s production facilities and preparing partnerships to relaunch production (watch, runtime: 5:10).

The state-owned company can play an important role in the nation’s economy once again, says Moussa, telling the audience that “the start (of national localization efforts) comes from El Nasr Automotive.”

Relaunching is a positive step, but there are big challenges to come, Amr Adib said on El Hekaya. Adib pointed to two main challenges after resuming operations — maintaining continuous production without any interruptions and upping the ratio of local components in the production of the vehicles’ parts. (watch, runtime: 4:31).

Morocco has already laid out a blueprint for us to follow, Adib argued. El Nasr has the potential to produce large volumes of vehicles and should look to the Moroccan auto industry — which brings in more revenue than the Suez Canal — for guidance, he continued.

** We have more on El Nasr Automotive’s resumption of operations in the news well, above.

Tags: