German truck manufacturer MAN Trucks has entered into a $14 million JV with Iraqi company Numoor Al-Bararry to build a truck plant near Baghdad.
Like fellow Volkswagen-owned truck company Scania, MAN will look to service the Iraq market via the partnership.
“Once completed the facility will employ 700 Iraqis and produce 3,000 vehicles per year,” said Ali Al-Obaidi, Numoor’s managing director.
Peter Mayr, managing director of Terramar Company, the company that represents MAN in Iraq has confirmed that the plant will include an assembly line and maintenance workshop.
Dave van Graan, vice president of sales at the German heavy vehicle giant, recently told PMV that he expects Iraq to become an increasingly important market.
“Saudi will be very strong but the next that follows will be in that region, purely by way of population density and it is a rich country; [Iraq] has money to spend,” he said. “If you’re developing a pipeline and you have the staying power to handle the economical and political challenges there, then obviously you will benefit. So it’s [a question of] how long you’re strategically thinking: is it six months, or five years?”
