The first King Long bus fully assembled in Tunisia, was launched on October 29 by the Mediterranean Industry Cars (Medicars), an industrial branch of the Zouari Group in Sousse.

This project is part of a partnership with the Chinese giant King Long, the leading bus manufacturer of all categories, sold both in China and worldwide.

Seating 53 including the driver, this bus has developed technical features and luxury accessories, as well as robustness and rigidity allowing it to cover long distances.

“Medicars boasts an annual production capacity of around 120 buses and aims in a second phase to supply the Maghreb and African markets with this bus model,” said Zouari Group founder Hafedh Zouari.

“This new born, which will generate 320 direct and indirect jobs, will reinforce MEDICARS’ existing products, including Mahindra pickups, Hyundai trucks and GEELY cars (GC6 and GX3), with an investment value of more than 41 million dinars,” he indicated.

He voiced his group’s willingness to open up to new markets, notably the great potential of China in the automotive industry.

This market diversification will help Tunisian consumers and manufacturers to acquire products at competitive prices.

However, he pointed out that “the assembly of buses, trucks and cars in Tunisia is governed by outdated laws that should be reviewed.”

Zouari called in this regard, the government to support this sector so as to provide Tunisian consumers with a larger variety of products, notably much cheaper and with a better quality.

Actually, the main goal is to further contribute to the country’s economic and social development.

Taking the floor, China’s Ambassador to Tunisia Zhang Jianguo said “this is not only a good example of the win-win cooperation between China and Tunisia, but also an embodiment of the ever deepening bilateral cooperation.”

“I wish that there will be more cooperation between the two countries’ enterprises, with a view to constantly fostering bilateral relations and contributing to Tunisia’s economic and social development,” added Jianguo.

Source: TAP News Agency