In line with Egypt's strategic location as a crossroad to three continents Europe, Africa and Asia, a host of executive measures are currently under way for transforming Egypt into a regional base for car industry and its export in the Middle East.

Egypt, with its rapid automotive industry development over the past five years, is becoming the major African and Arab world leader in manufacturing vehicles and its components.

Under this concept various multinational car companies have expressed their willingness to invest in Egypt, a matter which will push the wheel of economic development, develop human resources and activate the car feeding industries.

Local industry also will benefit from the most up-to-date technology as well as the marketing and export expertise. Japanese Nissan was the latest to enter the Egyptian market as it decided to establish a one-million dollar factory for assembling vehicles aiming at exporting 3800 cars in 2007.

In a joint venture deal with Bavarian Auto Group, BMW re-opened recently its manufacturing plant in the sixth of October City.

The new plant is one of the most modern plants in the region which is expected to meet the local growing demand as well as the Arab and the Common Market for East and South Africa (COMESA) markets.

The $ 35 million plant, whose local component reached 45 % rate, will provide 500 job opportunities.

The BMW Group says an additional $ 25 million will be invested in an up-to-date paint shop and a state-of-the-art infrastructure in terms of maintenance and services facilities.

The new BMW line will serve the entire Middle East region with total production capacity of 1500 cars, expected to reach 2000 in 2005.

Furthermore, Ministry of Industry and Technological Development has laid down a plan designed for promoting Egypt's feeding industries in a bid to meet the growing local demand especially in spare parts.

The plan aims at increasing the locally manufactured components and spare parts to reach a range of 5 to 10 % annually. The value of spare parts imports is estimated at L.E. 3.5 billion per annum.

According to experts, the volume of Egypt's exports should be doubled in the forthcoming period.

Capitalizing on its strategic position joining three continents, namely: Europe, Africa and Asia, Egypt is a key member of the African COMESA free trade agreement, consisting of 23 African countries.

Egypt is also a member of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area and a member of the Regional Free Trade Area with 19 Arab countries.

There are 18 vehicle manufacturers in Egypt under joint venture agreements with international acclaimed brand names such as BMW, Peugeot, Mercedes Benz, Daimler Chrysler, Nissan, Fiat, Suzuki, Kia in addition to a large number of importers.

Over six billion pounds are invested in the automotive manufacturing sector in Egypt that hires 20,000 people in addition to 60,000 in the automotive retail sector.

According to latest figures, some 120 companies are operating in the field of manufacturing car spare parts.

The local component share in some of the locally-assembled cars ranges between 60 and 70 %.

Buses and minibuses have strong manufacturing and export potentials in Egypt.

The locally manufactured components of buses reached $ 50 million annually or 30 % of the Cairo Transportation Authority's (CTA) needs of spare parts, which is estimated at $ 300 million.

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