Kingdom of Morocco, Renault-Nissan Alliance Sign Final Agreements

Creation of the Renault-Nissan Alliance manufacturing complex in Tangier, Morocco

January 18, 2008, Rabat (Morocco) -- In the presence of, Mr. Abbas El Fassi, Prime Minister of Morocco:
Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar, Minister of the Economy and Finance,
Mr. Ahmed Chami, Minister of Trade, Industry and New Technologies,
Mr. Karim Ghellab, Minister of Equipment and Transportation,
Mrs Amina Benkhadra, Minister of Energy, Mining, Water and the Environment
Mr. Jamal Arhmani, Minister of Labor and Professional Training
and Mr. Bernard Rey, Renault Senior Vice President, representative of Renault s.a.s,
Mr. Christian Estève, representative of the Renault Tangier Mediterranean project enterprise signed a framework agreement and six application agreements.

By signing these agreements, the Renault Nissan-Alliance confirms the project to build a manufacturing complex near Tangiers.

These agreements are in accordance with the protocol signed on September 1, 2007 in the presence of his Majesty King Mohammed VI, by Mr. Driss Jettou, Prime Minister and Mr. Carlos Ghosn, President of Renault and President of Nissan.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance will start work on the manufacturing complex in February 2008. The new complex, which will include an assembly plant, will be located on a 300-hectare site inside the Tangiers Mediterranean Special Economic Zone and will use the TangerMed port platform.

Once completed, the site will have an operating capacity of 400,000 vehicles per year (200,000 vehicles per year from 2010), providing the Renault-Nissan Alliance with one of the largest manufacturing complexes in the Mediterranean.

Representing a global capacity investment of more than €600 million, the complex will create 6,000 direct jobs and 30,000 indirect jobs.

Under the lead of Renault, this site will extend Renault's manufacturing system for the production of competitive vehicles derived from the B0 Platform (Logan platform) and Nissan's system for the production of new-generation light commercial vehicles. On December 1, 2007, Edouard Armalet was appointed General Manager of the Renault Tanger Méditerranée project.

Edouard Armalet
Born in 1955, Edouard Armalet is a graduate of the Ecole Centrale de Paris and the Institut Supérieur des Affaires (MBA HEC). He started his career at Renault in 1980 in the Cost Analysis Division before becoming consultant in the Corporate Planning Division and then the Industrial Strategy Division. In 1988, he joined the Flins plant as Deputy Head of the Assembly Department. From 1990 to 1995, he was in charge of the Engines Department at Cléon plant, before joining the Cross-Functional standardisation/diversity Group. In 1998, he was appointed Project Manager and then General Manager of Manufacturing at the Flins plant. In February 2004, he became General Manager Test and Validation within the Powertrain Engineering Division, before being appointed General Manager of Manufacturing Quality in November, 2006. On December 1, 2007, he was appointed General Manager of the Renault Tanger Méditerranée project.

Renault and Nissan in Morocco
Commercially present in Morocco since 1928, Renault has been assembling vehicles at SOMACA since 1966.
With 30,151 vehicles sold in 2007, the Renault Group is leader on the Moroccan market with its two brands Renault and Dacia (29,1%), which rank respectively first (16.9%) and second (12.2%). Launched in Morocco in July 2005, Logan became the best selling vehicle in the Kingdom within its first six months. In 2007, 12,700 Logans were sold in Morocco.
In total, Renault currently employs 1,500 people in Morocco.

SIAB, the Nissan importer, is 100% owned by Renault Morocco and distributes the Nissan brand. In 2006, 1,100 Nissans were sold.

SOMACA (Moroccan Society of Automobile Construction), located in Casablanca, is 80% owned by the Renault Group and 20% by the PSA Group. SOMACA has been assembling Renault Kangoo since 1997 and Dacia Logan since 2005.

RCI Finance Morocco offers credit solutions for the group brand's products and services for the general public and funds the stocks of new vehicles and spare parts for the Renault, Dacia and Nissan sales networks in Morocco. RCI Finance Morocco is a 100% owned subsidiary of RCI Banque.

Renault Corporate
The Renault Group generated global revenues of €41,528 million in 2006. It designs, engineers, manufactures and sells innovative passenger and light commercial vehicles throughout the world. The Renault Group is present in 118 countries and sells vehicles under its three brands – Renault, Dacia and Samsung. The Renault Group employs 129,000 people worldwide.
Within the Renault Commitment 2009 plan, the Group sets itself three commitments:
- Quality: New Laguna to be top three in terms of product and service quality
- Profitability: an operating margin of 6% in 2009
- Growth: sell an additional 800,000 vehicles by 2009, compared with 2005

Nissan Corporate
The Nissan Motor Company generated global net revenues of 10.468 trillion yen in 2006. Nissan is present in all major global auto markets selling a comprehensive range of cars, pickup trucks, SUVs and light commercial vehicles under the Nissan and Infiniti brands. Nissan employs over 180,000 people worldwide.
Under the Nissan Value-Up business plan, the company continues to focus on long-term sustainable and profitable growth driven by three commitments:
- To maintain top level of operating profit margin among global automakers
- To achieve global sales of 4.2 million units in 2009
- 20% return on invested capital on average over the course of the plan.
In 2007, Nissan will introduce 11 all-new products globally, with a further 33 to be introduced during the following three years.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance
The Renault-Nissan Alliance, created in 1999, is the fourth largest automotive group in the world by sales volume (5,965,000 vehicles sold in 2006). The Alliance aims to be ranked in the top three in terms of quality, technology and profitability amongst the major global automakers.

Source: Nissan