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Automotive Weekly highlights

Everything you need to know about Neo and HUV

T HIS week was a major tur- public sale price will be in a range of
According to our information, the
ning point for the Moroccan
automotive industry, which
170,000 Dirhams (USD 17,000), all
launches two promising new- costs included. For the sourcing of
borns, «NEO», the first consumer components, the Neo project obtains
brand made in Morocco, as well as a its supplies mainly from equipment
prototype of a Moroccan-initiated hy- manufacturers based in Morocco
drogen vehicle called “NamX”. The constituting an ecosystem of some 250
preview presentation ceremony (Re- renowned companies. It is a guarantee
veal) of the two vehicles was chaired of confidence for the after-sales service
by King Mohammed VI, on Monday, (SAV), since most of the spare parts
May 15, at the Royal Palace in Rabat. are produced in Morocco.
«These are two innovative projects The manufacturer claims a local
that will strengthen the promotion integration rate of around 65%. “It is
of the Made in Morocco label and a three-door vehicle developed 100%
consolidate the country’s place as a by Moroccan engineers”, explains
reference competitive platform in au- one of the founders of Neo Motors.
tomotive production», explain sources Equipped with a petrol engine (small
at the Ministry of Industry. These two displacement), the car was developed
industrial initiatives are in line with The Sovereign chaired, on Monday, May 15, at the Royal Palace in Rabat, the presentation on the basis of a platform shared by
the high royal instructions, which aim ceremony of Neo, the first car launched by Moroccan manufacturer Neo Motors (Ph. DR) several manufacturers and countries.
to include the private sector in a new and green hydrogen, among others the Commission of the Regional In- According to the company’s articles
momentum propelled by productive The first Neo vehicle is developed vestment Center (CRI of the Rabat- of incorporation, NEO Motors is an
investment, added value, and job crea- by a 100% Moroccan manufacturer Salé area. After conclusive static and industrial unit specializing in the ma-
tion in cutting-edge sectors oriented (Neo Motors SARL Company). This dynamic tests, the final approval of nufacture of motor vehicles for the lo-
towards the future… company is supported by Moroccan the Neo vehicle was issued by Narsa cal market and for export. The annual
The challenge consists in stimu- capital. Neo Motors has set up an auto- (National Road Safety Agency) in production capacity is 27,000 units per
lating the emergence of a new gene- mobile assembly plant in Aïn Aouda February 2023. year. Ultimately, the production unit
ration of companies bringing added (Rabat region). The site is based in a For the current phase, manufacturer will create 580 direct jobs. The ove-
value and innovation. This vision also plot of land known as “PEnazzo” pro- Neo Motors has just launched pre-pro- rall amount of the investment is 156
bets on the development of sectors and perty. The authorization for this plant duction vehicles. The marketing of the million dirhams (USD 15 million).o
locomotive ecosystems in sustainable was granted in 2020, after the favo- very first cars is scheduled for the be-
development, renewable energies, rable opinion issued the same year by ginning of next summer (June 2023). Amin RBOUB

Tourism: Watch out for overnight stays!

A PARADOX must be hi- 22% and 7%. The explanations of the 3-to-5-star accommodation establish- namely an average of 4 overnight
ghlighted. While overall professionals include the lack of flight ments increased by 9%. Per market, stays per tourist.
Another market which is a hit and
tourist arrivals recorded an frequencies and the lack of diversity the analysis is more telling. Seve-
exceptional increase com- of hotel products. Marrakech,
pared to 2019, the reference year in the only city that is ral issuing countries have expe- which was predictable is the Israeli
rienced a drop, including market with an increase of 138%
March, overnight stays do not expe- doing well, shows Germany (-39%), compared to 2019. The normalization
rience the same momentum. This is a mere 2% Holland (-34%), of diplomatic relations between Mo-
what must be inferred from the sta- increase for France (-5%), rocco and Israel has enabled the esta-
tistics on tourism in Morocco since the month of and Belgium blishment of direct airlines between
January 2023, statistics published by March and (-28%). On the Morocco and the State of Israel, which
the Tourism Observatory. So, com- 9% ove- other hand, resulted in direct flights between Tel
pared to the same period in 2019, rall for the the United Aviv on the one hand and Marrakech
the number of overnight stays fell by first quar- Kingdom is and Casablanca on the other.
10% in March. The overall volume ter. In three a hit with a It should also be noted that the se-
of overnight stays did not exceed 1.9 months (Ja- positive evo- cond major Moroccan tourist destina-
million. nuary/March), lution of 28%. tion, namely the Souss-Massa region,
Per destination, with the exception the city received Tourists coming which experienced an excellent reco-
of Marrakech and Essaouira, all the more than 690,000 from this market ap- very in 2022, is starting 2023 with a
other cities posted declines compared tourists in 3-to-5-star preciate much more desti- 15% drop in overnight stays compa-
to this period in 2019. Thus, the cities tourist establishments which nations like Marrakech or Al Haouz, red to the first quarter of 2019, accor-
of Fez, Rabat, Casablanca, and Aga- made more than 2 million overnight and products such as guesthouses or ding to the regional dashboard of the
dir recorded respective declines of stays. The hotels have an average homestays. Marrakech, for example, national observatory. It is undoubtedly
22%, 14%, 23 % and 14%. The cities occupancy rate of over 65%. Com- received during the first 3 months in summer that the destination will
of Ouarzazate and Tangiers were not paring to 2019 as the reference year, nearly 30,000 British tourists who catch up. o
spared either and posted declines of the total overnight stays in classified made nearly 127,000 overnight stays, B.B.
Friday 19 May 2023