Rox picks Egypt as luxury EV production hub for Middle East + Africa

Another auto hub

Chinese luxury EV maker Rox Global is making Egypt its production hub for the Middle East and Africa. The company is launching Rox ESI Egypt — a JV with local player Ezz El Arab Elsewedy Investments (ESI) — to build what it says will be the first locally-made luxury EV. ESI

Production is scheduled to begin in mid-2027 at ESI's 100k sqm complex in Sixth of October, scaling from 3k cars in the first year to 5k within three years, ESI Chairman Hisham Ezz El Arab tells us. The local component ratio will sit within the Industrial Development Authority’s 45% requirement. The move aligns with the Egyptian government’s Automotive Industry Development Program, which targets 100k vehicles annually with 60% local content.

Why it matters: Egypt rarely sees parent OEMs take equity in local manufacturing — the market runs on importers and badge-assembly deals. The venture sets Egypt up as a launchpad to African markets including Nigeria, Angola, and Ghana, with a right-hand-drive plant planned to serve East and Southern Africa, CEO Jarvis Yan tells us.

Steady

Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) signed production-sharing agreements with three international consortiums for blocks from its 2025 exploration round, which ended a 17-year freeze on new exploration licensing in the country. The signatories are Spain’s Repsol with Türkiye Petrolleri; Italy’s Eni with QatarEnergy; and Hungary’s MOL alongside Türkiye Petrolleri and Repsol, NOC Chairman Massoud Suleman said.

Why it matters:The signing provides IOCs a sense of security to advance their capex-intensive exploration drilling. Some of the 2025 winners are also not included: Chevron and Nigeria’s Aiteo were among the companies awarded blocks last year but aren't in this signing batch.

Playing defense

UAE state-owned defense champion Edge Group is doubling down on its cooperation with French firms, inking a new agreement with aerospace and defense group Safran to set up two JVs for weapon development, Edge said in a statement. The joint ventures — one to be based in the UAE and the other in France — will focus on precision-guided and air-to-ground weapons and launch systems for unmanned aerial systems.

BACKGROUND- Edge recently established its European HQ in Paris, and is currently pushing to localize more of its defense stack while also upping its exposure to assets abroad to strengthen its defense supply chain.

Cloud ambitions

Our friends at Hassan Allam’s digital infrastructure arm committed USD 400 mn for the first phase of a new data center after securing a cloud-computing license from the National Telecom Regulatory Authority. Hassan Allam Digital Infrastructure and Data Center Solutions will execute a phased expansion plan for the facility, according to a statement.

Why it matters:Egypt wants to become a regional data-center hub, but it has some serious catching up to do. The country currently hosts only 14 facilities — representing just 5.5% of the region’s data centers, according to Data Center Map. Hassan Allam’s new facility gives Egypt more room to keep data within our borders, cutting latency and making financial transactions, AI processing, and cloud services more reliable.

Expanding textile base

Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone is pulling in another wave of foreign textile investments, with three new contracts this week worth a combined USD 67 mn from Canadian, Indian, and Chinese investors.

Canadian firm Avelon is setting up a USD 27 mn technical textiles manufacturing facility in East Port Said, producing specialized materials for waterproofing, building protection, soil reinforcement, and infrastructure. The 24.2k sqm facility will export 100% of its output to the US and Europe. Avelon is bringing a high-value, specialized industrial output that stands out against most of the low-margin garment investments from Chinese and Turkish firms.

Two more in Qantara West: India’s Prestige Denim Mills will build a USD 20 mn integrated denim fabric plant producing up to 20 mn meters annually, with 70% of output earmarked for export. Meanwhile, China’s Zhejiang Hongda will set up a USD 20 mn textile manufacturing and processing exporting 70% of output.