Made-in-Egypt Geely autos should soon start rolling off the assembly lines, with a new factory set up with the Chinese auto giant’s local partner Auto Mobility set to launch “within hours,” Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said at a meeting with representatives from the involved companies yesterday.

Auto Mobility? The company is a joint venture between Kuwait’s Ali Alghanim & SonsAutomotive, Saudi’s Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Group, and Egypt’s Organi Group. The trio behind Auto Mobility — along with local firm Al Safi Group — teamed up in late 2022 to establish Global Auto Group, the local agent of BMW and Mini.

The new factory is hoping to export 30k vehicles while also meeting local demand, but no overall annual production capacity target was provided. Whatever the production capacity number is, Geely Holding Group’s vice president indicated the company’s willingness to increase production further and establish Egypt as an important export base for Africa, the Middle East, and other markets further afield.

We’re also yet to give a price tag for the new factory, but reports last year put Auto Mobility’s investment into the localization of Geely-branded vehicles USD 100 mn — which very well may have also referred to a different game plan than the one ongoing now.

Remember: Local reports said last year that Geely was one of the auto makers who showed interest in participating in the government’s Egyptian Automotive Industry Development Program (AIDP), alongside Stellantis, Proton, Geely, Jac, and BYD.

EVs may be the next step, with Auto Mobility Chairman Fahd Ali Al Ghanim saying last year that it will study the production of EVs at a later stage.

** We spoke to Auto Mobility Managing Director Osman Abdelmoneim last year for our My Morning Routine column. You can check out our interview here.

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