Renault Kardian begins production in Morocco
- Founded in 1959, the Renault Group plant in Casablanca (Morocco), SOMACA, has been entirely owned by Renault since 2019. This plant, which should not be confused with the one in Tangier, has just started assembling the Renault Kardian compact SUV already produced in Brazil. This B-segment model with a low-cost modular platform intended for non-European markets is, let us recall, derived from the Dacia SanderoStepway.
- Today, the Renault plant in Casablanca produces the Dacia Logan and Sandero, at a rate of 95,000 units in 2022 and as many in 2023, compared to 74,000 in 2021 and 68,000 in 2020. These quantities are in addition to the 288,000 cars produced in Tangier in 2023 (mainly Dacia Sandero and Renault Express vans).
- Renault and Dacia remain the sales leaders in the Moroccan passenger car market (39% market share in 2023), which represented 145,000 units in 2023, 143,000 in 2022, 154,000 in 2021 and 117,000 in 2020. It is therefore a stable market that is not challenging for Renault or Dacia. However, Renault thought it was wise to diversify its offering on the Moroccan market with a more SUV-type model, the Kardian, cheaper than a Captur (the Kardian should not be exported to Europe).
- Due to a production capacity limited to 120,000 vehicles per year, the Renault plant in Casablanca could produce between 25,000 and 30,000 Kardians per year, provided that this model does not take too much on Sandero sales.
- In 2025, Morocco should produce 520,000 cars, including 280,000 in Tangier (Renault), 120,000 in Casablanca (Renault) and 120,000 in Kenitra (Stellantis).