Egypt’s Al Amal wants resume Lada assembly in 2024

Al Amal could resume Lada production in the new year: Al Amal Auto, the local agent of Lada and BYD vehicles, is looking to resume assembly of Lada cars in early 2024, Chairman Amr Soliman confirmed to Enterprise. The company is currently in negotiations to resume assembly with Lada’s manufacturer, Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ.

Background: Al Amal suspended the assembly of the Lada Granta in August 2022 on the back of Western sanctions on Russia and will temporarily suspend operations at its BYD assembly plant within a week due to difficulty in obtaining hard currency to import the required production components. The company has for months been teetering on the brink of a shutdown as a result of last year’s import restrictions.

Sanctions against Russia are a primary hurdle: Al Amal and AvtoVAZ are in talks to find a mechanism for conducting financial transfers, which have been made difficult by the SWIFT ban against Russian banks.

Al Amal has slashed its assembly targets: The company is looking to halve its output of Lada cars, which previously stood at some 3k - 3.5k per month. Al Amal lowered its assembly targets on the back of declining demand in the auto market and the devaluation of the EGP, which has driven up car prices, Soliman said. Auto sales have dropped 70% this year, Soliman noted, citing data by the Automotive Marketing Information Council.