Fruit of a German-Algerian-Emirati investment, the first bus will come out of the assembly lines of the plant in the Algerian company for the production of Mercedes-Benz trucks (Sappl-MB), situated on the SNVI site, said the director of Partnership and Development at the SNVI, Ramdane Toukal on the sidelines of the 3rd National Subcontracting Exhibition.
Thus, after the start of production of Actros types truck in April 2014 and Zetros in March 2015, the Sappl-MB plans will launch two models of passenger vehicles, he argued in his presentation on "the subcontracting market in Algeria: automotive and mechanical engineering sectors", presented on the sidelines of the show.
This is a " Conecto bus " with 100 seats and a " Medio minibus " with a capacity from 35 to 70 seats, he said without revealing which of the two models will be launched in May next.
It is also expected the development of new ranges of latest Atego type trucks, Axor and Unimog to reach a production capacity of 16,500 commercial vehicles in 2018 and 2019 (15,000 trucks and 1,500 buses).
The Sappl-MB Company, founded in 2012 with a capital of 103 million euros, is 51% owned by the Algerian side through SNVI (34%) and the Department of National Defense (17%), and 49% Emirati Aabar while German Daimler/Mercedes-Benz is the technology partner.
