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Mercedes-Benz Cars considers car assembly plant in Egypt

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has welcomed plans by Mercedes-Benz Cars to resume car-making in Egypt with a new assembly plant.

The company, part of Daimler, said on 18 January the plant would be built by a local business partner, without saying when or where. 

Plans were being developed "in close collaboration" with the Egyptian government, Daimler said, with talks occurring between Markus Schäfer, member of the Divisional Board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain, and both President Sisi in Cairo and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in Berlin.

Before the upheavals sparked in Egypt by the 25 January 2011 revolution, Daimler, like other car-makers, had a factory in 6th October City, an industrial satellite town about 30km from Cairo.

"Egypt is an attractive and competitive location for production and supporting logistics," Schäfer said. "With the planned local assembly we are confident to be able to expand our market position."

He added the company was ready to support the Egyptian authorities with expertise in electric vehicles and mobility concepts, including in the planned New Administrative Capital.

The Egyptian government is trying to lure investment into the New Administrative capital, located on a 700-sq-km site in the desert east of Cairo. In recent weeks, talks have broken down with two developers, one from China and one from the UAE, over major development deals in the new capital.

President Sisi said: "We welcome the decision of Mercedes-Benz to resume manufacturing and assembly of cars in Egypt, a step that reflects the improvement of the investment environment and the performance of business in Egypt, in the light of the implementation of the comprehensive economic reform program as well as the openness of Egypt to cooperate with the German company within the framework of its policies to develop the automotive industry in its various categories."

Photograph: Mercedes-Benz Cars’ Markus Schäfer, left, poses with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi (Daimler AG)

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