Moroccan automaker Neo Motors, which begins selling the nation’s first homegrown automobile this month, is targeting a listing on the kingdom’s main stock exchange to expand into electric-vehicle production.
Neo, co-founded in 2017 by Morocco’s now-communications and culture minister, is initially assembling 3,000 units a year of its debut vehicle — a three-door passenger model that retails for $20,000 and competes with similarly priced combustion cars from Renault-owned Dacia and Chinese brands.
The automaker wants to ramp that up to an annual 15,000 vehicles within three years and introduce electric models, CEO Nassim Belkhayat told Bloomberg in an interview in Marrakech. Neo is in talks with the African Development Bank on further financing options, he said.
Neo’s plans would be another advance for Morocco’s car industry, a sector the government has cultivated as part of a broader drive to turn the North African nation on Europe’s doorstep into a manufacturing and trade hub open to both the West and China.
Peugeot and Renault vehicles are already assembled there, with authorities now focusing on adding value by making key components locally.