Chinese tyre manufacturer Guizhou Tyre is moving ahead with a US$298.7 million manufacturing investment in Morocco, adding another substantial automotive component project to the country’s rapidly expanding industrial base.
The company has completed the Chinese regulatory approvals and overseas investment registration required for a planned factory at Mohammed VI Tangier Tech City. Its investment subsidiary received an overseas investment certificate from the Guizhou Provincial Department of Commerce on 11 August, following approvals from other provincial authorities.
The factory is planned with capacity to manufacture six million semi-steel radial passenger-car tyres annually. Guizhou Tyre first approved the investment in January 2026 and is now working on the remaining steps, including obtaining approval for the factory site and establishing its Moroccan subsidiary before construction can begin.
The distinction is important. The US$298.7 million project is confirmed, but it should not yet be described as a factory under construction.
For Morocco, the investment is significant because it strengthens an automotive industry that is increasingly developing beyond vehicle assembly into a broader manufacturing and components ecosystem.
Renault and Stellantis have established Morocco as a major African vehicle-production centre, while northern Morocco has developed an extensive automotive supplier base supported by industrial zones and the Tanger Med logistics complex. More recently, Chinese investment has expanded into batteries, battery materials and other components linked to electric vehicle production.
Tyres are becoming another part of that industrial expansion.
Guizhou Tyre will not be entering Morocco alone. Other Chinese tyre manufacturers are developing production capacity in the country, including Sentury Tire and Shandong Yongsheng Rubber. The emerging cluster suggests Morocco is positioning itself not simply to supply tyres to its domestic vehicle industry, but to manufacture at a scale capable of serving export markets.
Tangier provides Guizhou Tyre with a particularly useful location for that strategy. Manufacturing close to Tanger Med gives the company access to established maritime connections with Europe while retaining access to African and other international markets.
The Moroccan plant will also represent a further step in Guizhou Tyre’s own internationalization. It is expected to become the manufacturer’s second production base outside China, following its operation in Vietnam.
For Africa’s automotive industry, the wider significance is the continuing deepening of Morocco’s manufacturing value chain. Vehicle assembly initially provided the anchor. Components, batteries, materials and increasingly tyres are adding the industrial capacity around it.
If the Guizhou Tyre project proceeds as planned, another six million tyres a year will eventually be added to that manufacturing base, reinforcing Morocco’s emergence as one of Africa’s most diversified automotive production hubs. ■
