Egypt Starts Building Its Own EVs, Led by the Dongfeng Mage

The first electric car built in Egypt has started rolling off the line at El Nasr Automotive's state-owned workshops. The Dongfeng Mage EV is the product of a three-way tie-up between Chinese parent company Dongfeng, local general importer SN Automotive and the Safi Group. The SUV already carries 45 per cent locally produced components at the start of production.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Industry Minister Khaled Hashem have set the national target at up to 100,000 electric vehicles a year by 2032. For Cairo, the push is about cutting dependence on imported cars, keeping economic gains at home and creating jobs. The country also wants to become an export hub supplying the Middle East and the wider African continent, backed by the National Programme for the Development of the Automotive Industry (AIDP), which dangles financial perks and lighter regulation at automakers that steadily raise local content.

Chinese manufacturers are piling into Egyptian sites as a result, and El Nasr Automotive has modernised its facilities to handle them. The Mage EV is an all-electric SUV measuring 4.67 metres long, 1.90 metres wide and 1.61 metres tall, with a 2.78-metre wheelbase and a 360-litre boot.

Under the skin sits a 120 kW front-axle motor with 240 Newton metres of torque, good for 0 to 100 km/h in 8.7 seconds. A 50.8 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery delivers a claimed 445 kilometres of range on China's CLTC cycle, while a DC fast charger takes it from 30 to 80 per cent in 28 minutes. Inside, drivers get a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, with infotainment running through a 10.4-inch portrait display in the centre.

The 'Aeolus' lettering on the steering wheel nods to the model's Chinese-market identity, where it sells under the Fengshen sub-brand. There it is known as the Dongfeng Fengshen Sky EV01 and costs the equivalent of roughly €15,000 to €24,000. Egyptian pricing has not been announced; SN Automotive and the government plan to put the Mage EV on sale in the first quarter of 2027.