Hyundai Motor Co. is making another attempt to establish manufacturing operations in Algeria, planning a $400 million assembly plant that would become the South Korean company’s fourth African production facility.
The automaker is working with Oman’s Saud Bahwan Group to develop a completely knocked-down assembly plant targeting a 2027 opening, according to industry sources. The two companies are expected to invest about $400 million in the plant, which will produce compact sport utility vehicles and hatchback cars popular in the region.
The site, formerly occupied by Volkswagen’s plant, in an industrial park in Sidi Khettab, Relizane Province – about 300 kilometers west of the capital, Algiers – is under consideration. Hyundai secured preliminary marketing approval in May and now seeks final government authorization by year-end.
This marks Hyundai’s second Algeria venture after a previous partnership collapsed during political instability. In 2018, Hyundai Motor partnered with Global Group, a major Algerian private industrial group, to build a commercial vehicle plant in Batna, but the plan was scrapped in 2020 amid political turmoil in the country.
The initiative reflects Chairman Chung Euisun’s broader regional expansion strategy. Once completed, the plant, the Korean automaker’s fourth manufacturing base in Africa, would serve as Hyundai Motor’s gateway to the African auto market, where 1.05 million vehicles were sold in 2024. The company operates existing facilities in South Africa, Ghana and Ethiopia.
