Nissan announces its return to the Algerian automobile market. This is news which should help stabilize the automobile market in Algeria, which is facing a weakness in supply followed by a surge in second-hand prices.
After Fiat, which began marketing its vehicles last March, granted approval to two dealers who should distribute Opel and JAC vehicles, another major global brand is arriving on the Algerian market.
This is the Japanese Nissan which has just signed a distribution contract with an Algerian dealership, the Hasnaoui group in this case. The contract covers the distribution of Nissan’s flagship model, the Navara SUV. However, no date has been announced for the start of the effective marketing of this model.
Nissan announces its return to Algeria with the Navara
In a press release released this Monday, October 9, the African management of the Japanese automobile giant announced the extension of its historic partnership with the Algerian group. The two parties have renewed the distribution contract which has bound them since 1993.
The Algerian market was previously one of Nissan’s three most important in Africa, recalls the president of Nissan Africa, Joni Paiva, for whom this contract constitutes a “new departure”.
Nissan has two factories on the African continent, one in South Africa and one in Egypt, and two DKD facilities in Ghana and Nigeria.
The all-new Navara, manufactured at the Rosslin plant in South Africa, has been “specifically designed for African markets,” according to Nissan.
“Built in Africa, by Africans for Africans, it is produced to the most demanding specifications imaginable to meet the rigors of the continent’s roads, without skimping on innovation and the driving experience,” reads the press release from Nissan Africa.
“We are excited about this partnership. We have ambitious plans for the Algerian market and in particular with the locally built Nissan Navara,” said Maciej Klenkiewicz, National Director of Nissan South Africa.
Nissan said it had identified Algeria, Libya and Egypt as “key markets for the new Navara, as well as a range of exciting packages that will be introduced with the model across the continent.”
“We believe that the Nissan Navara is truly the flagship model of an already very impressive Nissan range” and which can make inroads “in a market of the size and importance of that of Algeria,” indicated for its part the Hasnaoui group.
Founded in 1933, Nissan formed the Renault-Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance with its compatriot Mitsubishi and the French Renault. The Hasnaoui group was founded in 1964 by Abdallah Hasnaoui.
Like all brands, Nissan has no longer sold models in Algeria for years due to the blocking of imports of new vehicles. Last March, Algeria lifted this ban by granting approvals to three brands: Fiat, Opel, and Jac.
On Thursday, the Minister of Industry and Pharmaceutical Production, Ali Aoun, indicated that his department had approved 26 car dealerships without giving the names. He said Algeria has set aside $2.6 billion for vehicle imports in 2023.
