AOI, Fiat will assemble Jeeps together in Egypt for another decade: The Arab Organization for Industrialization has inked an agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles that extends their partnership on the production of Jeep automobiles for another 10 years, the Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement yesterday. The two sides are planning to produce as many as 6,000 vehicles a year, some of which will be exported to Arab and African markets as well as to the US and Portugal.

The Arab American Vehicles Company (AAV) invested USD 2.8 mn in a new Jeep service center, in collaboration with Fiat, AAV Chairman Mohamed Anis tells Al Mal. The new center, which will also include a showroom, will run entirely on solar power, the ministry said. We had reported in March that Fiat executives were in Cairo to decide on whether they would set up shop in the country, especially as the government readies to roll out the Automotive Directive. The proposed law, which is meant to incentivize assemblers to move further up the value chain into manufacturing, is expected to come out sometime this year.

There are 230 days left until 1 January 2019. That’s when customs on vehicles imported from the European Union are set to fall to zero, threatening to force domestic assemblers to turn thousands of skilled workers into the streets in the assembly and auto part industries.