Malaysia’s first national car company, Proton Holdings, celebrated the completion of a new vehicle assembly plant in Egypt this week, where its local partner is ready to begin assembling the Proton Saga from kits imported from Malaysia.
The plant, located in the Al Oula Industrial Park in Giza, is owned by Ezz Elarab Elsewedy Automotive Factories (ESAF), a joint venture between Ezz Elarab and Elsewedy Capital Holding. The US$35m facility has an annual production capacity of 20,000 vehicles per year on a single shift, employing approximately 400 people.
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The inauguration ceremony was attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Bin Ibrahim, Egypt’s Deputy Prime Minister H E Lieutenant General Kamel Al-Wazir and a large contingent of government ministers and company officials including ESAF chairman Hisham Ezz Elarab and Proton chairman Tan Sri Syed Faisal Albar.
The first shipment of left-hand-drive Proton Saga CKD kits left Malaysia in early September. By the end of the year a total of 1,400 locally-assembled Sagas are expected to roll off the production line, rising to 5,000 units in 2025.
Proton expects to ship a total of 16,000 kits to Egypt by the end of 2026, worth some MYR570m (US$127m) with an additional MYR20m (US$4.5m) worth of spare parts. The locally-assembled Sagas will also be exported from Egypt to other markets in the Northern and Sub-Saharan regions of Africa. Proton has also said it is looking expand its presence in the Middle-East.
Speaking at the event in Cairo, Proton chairman Tan Sri Syed Faisal Albar said: “Proton has been Malaysia’s leading vehicle exporter for decades with our current export volume accounting for approximately 3% of our total sales volume. While these efforts have borne fruit, our own history shows there is a lot of untapped potential for the company in markets outside Malaysia. Egypt is central to our plans for the region and going forward, we will be keen to engage in more collaborations with partners such as ESAF to unlock the sales potential for our cars in countries where car ownership numbers are still increasing.”
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