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Home » Car cultures around the world: Morocco, Africa

Car cultures around the world: Morocco, Africa

December 20, 2015 by Bart Demandt 5 Comments

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This is the first installment of our series of car cultures around the world/international street scenes.The kind of cars the people of Morocco drive can be described very simply: all types of Renault with a number instead of a name, Peugeots from the -04 and -05 series, and increasingly so from the -06 series, and Mercedes-Benz from the same era (1970’s, 80’s and 90’s), preferably with a Diesel engine. Of the modern cars, by far the most are either French or Dacia, most notably in the bodystyle what the French call “Fourgonette”, the archetypical Boulangerie-van like the Citroën Berlingo and Renault Kangoo, both in passenger and cargo versions. Add a handful of South-Korean and Chinese models to the mix and you’ll have a pretty accurate picture of what the streets of Casablanca, Marrakech or Agadir look like.

3x-Renault_18-Citroen_Berlingo-Morocco-Africa-street_scene-20153x Renault 18, of which one “Break”, and a Citroën Berlingo parked in Sidi Ifni, Morocco

These older cars are mostly imported as used cars from Europe and are kept going with cheap but clever engineering and thanks to widespread availability of spare parts. In their home countries, these cars used to be omnipresent workhorses, discarded to cross the Mediterranean after an exhausting life, but the few remaining are lovingly restored and cherished by collectors. Those collectors will cringe when they see those same cars still being treated as workhorses in Morocco. As you may have read in my report of the taxis in Morocco, the Mercedes-Benz 240d and Peugeot 504 Break with sometimes over 1 million kilometers on their odometer are still in heavy use for transporting people from one city to the other.

Peugeot_504_pick_up-Hyundai_H100-Morocco-Africa-street_scene-2015Peugeot 504 pick-up still in daily use at the Sidi Ifni fruit & vegetable market

The best selling new car in Morocco by far is the Dacia Logan sedan, which is produced locally in Tangier and is the only new car for sale below 75.000 Dirhams (+/- € 7.000,-). For comparison, a Citroën C1 minicar costs almost 110.000 Dirhams. The Logan is therefore also the cheapest rental car in Morocco. Other Dacia models, like the Duster, Dokker, Sandero and Lodgy are extremely popular as well, just like the Renault Kangoo. Morocco has a free trade agreement with the European Union, but levies a 17,5% import duty on vehicles from other parts of the world, and because of this, you’ll see fewer Asian cars on the roads than you’d expect. However, I did spot quite a few Chinese models from several brands, but most notably from Chery.

Chery_A1-Morocco-Africa-street_scene-2015Chery A1 parked in Agadir. Peugeot 407, Hyundai i10 and Dacia Logan in the background

Also check our Moroccan car sales data page to see how many cars were sold in the North African country from 2005 to present.

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International Street Scenes car culture, citroen, dacia, mercedes-benz, morocco, peugeot, renault, street scenes

About Bart Demandt

Bart is a 36-year old Dutchman who's always had a thing for cars, the automotive industry and statistics. He’s combined these passions by writing about them on CarSalesBase.com. His daily driver is an Alfa Romeo GT 3.2 V6 which he just can't seem to say goodbye to thanks to the mesmerizing exhaust note, despite approaching 300.000km which probably makes this the most experienced GT 3.2 in the world.
You can find all his articles Here.

Comments

  1. Damien says

    December 21, 2015 at 11:54

    Renault 18, my first car 🙂
    Bought by my father at the beginning fo the 80’s. Was still good driving at the the end of the 90’s.
    Perhaps now in Morocco ? 🙂

    Reply
    • Bart Demandt says

      December 21, 2015 at 20:01

      Hi Damien,

      yes, there’s a good chance that your Renault 18 is still driving in Morocco today, especially if it was a diesel. It was a very reliable car and easy to maintain, and I’ve literally seen hundreds of them during my two weeks in the country. The same goes for the even older Renault 12. You can still find these two on every street corner, even though they’re more than 25 years old now. I’ve even seen a few Renault 18 GTD still in use as a taxi!

      Reply
  2. Stefan Wilms says

    March 25, 2016 at 19:14

    Dear Bart,

    Thank you for this impression of the Moroccan car landscape. Please note that all the cars you refer to in your captions as Renault 11’s, are in fact Renault 9’s. Both are essentially the same, but the 9 is the saloon variant that was introduced first and the 11 is the hatchback that arrived slightly later to the market (both in the beginning of the eighties). The Renault 9 even managed to grab the European Car of the Year title.

    Regards, Stefan Wilms

    Reply
    • Bart Demandt says

      March 25, 2016 at 19:45

      Hi Stefan,

      you’re absolutely right and I can’t believe I made that mistake, because I absolutely know the difference. My parents even had a Renault 11 (the hatchback, as you correctly point out) when I was a kid….

      Reply
  3. Tristan Kennedy says

    July 3, 2017 at 14:31

    Very joyful post. I just stumble upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts.

    Reply

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