Rox ESI to manufacture Egypt’s first luxury passenger EV

Chinese luxury EV maker Rox Global is expanding in the local market through an equity shareholder with Ezz El Arab Elsewedy Investments (ESI), named Rox ESI Egypt. The news was unveiled at a launch event attended by EnterpriseAM last night.

The new company will produce what its backers say is the first luxury electric vehicle manufactured in the country. The new alliance aims to leverage the significant investment and manufacturing capabilities of Elsewedy and Ezz El Arab, and positions Egypt as the primary strategic platform and the leading production and logistics hub for Rox in the Middle East and Africa.

What we know: Production is scheduled to kick off in mid-2027 at ESI's 100k sqm complex in Sixth of October — its capacity is being doubled to 80k through a second car plant. “We’ll start at roughly 3k cars and reach 5k within three years. In June 2027, the first Egyptian made Rox will roll off the production line,” ESI Chairman Hisham Ezz El Arab tells us. The local component ratio will sit within the Industrial Development Authority's 45% requirement.

Why it matters: Parent carmakers rarely take equity in Egypt — the market runs on importers and badge-assembly deals. Ezz El Arab framed the JV as exactly the type of foreign direct investment the country has been chasing. “It's very rare for parent companies to come here themselves,” he tells EnterpriseAM. He is also betting on supply stability as a selling point: locally-built cars don't seize up when “the USD stops” and imports stall. “And we’ll give the market the same Chinese quality vehicle at a better price,” he adds.

For Rox, Egypt is the gateway to Africa. Founder and CEO Jarvis Yan told us that the venture will serve Nigeria, Angola, and Ghana as a start, and a plant focused on right-hand-drive variants is planned to open East and Southern Africa.

Rox entered the Egyptian market in 2025 with its luxury SUV the Rox 01 (a range extended electric vehicle). It quickly became a favorite among Egyptian CEO’s. The vehicle, which resembles the Land Rover Defender, sells for roughly EGP 3.5 mn which sits in comparison to the Defender’s EGP 10 mn price tag. Through distributor Nour El Din El Sherif Rox has three showrooms in both Cairo and Alexandria, and counts the UAE as its single biggest market globally.

“The MENA region in general has been a huge growth market for us,” said Yan. The company currently serves over 20k Rox owners across MENA. “I think the interesting thing about Rox is that it is made for a global market rather than the domestic Chinese market. It is made to appeal to international tastes,” said Ezz El Arab. “It’s already selling well and we think the Rox ESI Egypt will sell even better.”

What is ESI? It’s a 50-50 partnership between Elsewedy Industries and the Ezz El Arab Automotive Group established in 2023. “We created an automotive manufacturing entity that takes the industrial know-how and the network of Elsewedy Group and combines it with the automotive expertise and brand equity of Ezz El Arab. Within this holding company structure we have a manufacturing company that owns two factories in Sixth of October and a commercial entity that sells and distributes,” Ezz El Arab tells us.

ESI started manufacturing the Proton, a Malaysian economy vehicle in 2025. At an EGP 650k price tag it doesn’t exactly fit the Ezz El Arab portfolio which in addition to Mercedes, Jeep, and Volvo includes Ferrari, Maybach, and Aston Martin but it gives the company scale. ESI also manufactures for third parties like the Chinese Jinbei trucks.

What's next: The first made-in-Egypt Rox will include localized tweaks — heavier-duty air-conditioning, chassis tuning for local roads, and Arabic voice control adapted to the Egyptian dialect. Distribution will stay with Nour El Din El Sherif. The venture will be chasing a small but growing segment of new-energy vehicles on the Egyptian market, which Ezz El Arab calls a tsunami.

The bigger picture

IN CONTEXT- The move aligns with the government’s Automotive Industry Development Program, which targets 100k vehicles annually with 60% local content.