On Wednesday, October 14, speaking to business leaders gathered for a national meeting, the Algerian president laid out his target: “We will have an Algerian car by the end of 2028.” He stressed that this would be more than simple assembly, promising a vehicle “with an Algerian gearbox and Algerian wheels, not just tire inflation.” He added: “This is a challenge we will meet.” There was, however, one condition, slipped into the middle of a sentence: “If things go according to plan with the Germans and the Italians.”
The Algerian press was quick to sound the fanfare. “The first 100% Algerian car will be unveiled before the end of 2028,” declared Algérie360. “Tebboune launches the challenge,” echoed L’Algérie Aujourd’hui. For 24H Algérie, the promise was of “an Algerian engine and gearbox by 2028.” From El Khabar to TSA, every outlet joined the chorus. Not one, however, asked the awkward question: with what?
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An industry that does not exist
Algeria’s automotive industry today rests largely on a single assembly plant: Fiat’s factory in Oran, owned by Italian automaker Stellantis. Renault’s plant in Oued Tlelat has been closed since 2020. By the presidency’s own admission, it had never achieved more than 5% local integration over seven years of operation. Other projects launched over the past decade ended up in court, along with their promoters and two former prime ministers, convicted in the scandal surrounding car assembly plants.
That is where the expression “tire inflation,” which the president likes to use, comes from. It referred to vehicles imported almost entirely assembled, with little more than their wheels fitted locally before they were presented as “made in Algeria.” Not exactly a glorious legacy. Yet it has done nothing to stop the promise.
A car is not just a body shell. It is an entire ecosystem: hundreds of suppliers, steel, plastic, electronics, engines, transmissions, testing centers, engineers, standards and years of learning. Countries that approached the task methodically took more than a decade to build such an industry. Algeria, by contrast, plans to build one in two years, starting from almost nothing and entrusting the bulk of the work to “the Germans and the Italians.” An Algerian car made by Europeans: at least the concept is original.
Two tires, three months of waiting
Then there are the wheels. The president promises Algerian tires for Algerian cars. Yet in 2026, tires have become a scarce commodity in Algeria. To buy them, customers must register on “El Mahata,” the online platform run by Naftal, provide an email address and a bank card, and then wait.
A journalist from Maghreb Émergent recounted waiting more than three months just to secure permission to collect two tires from an outlet in Tizi Ouzou. Once notified, he had three days to pick them up, one of which was a public holiday. For another two tires, customers need a second vehicle registration document and a second email address.
On the parallel market, a pair of tires bought from Naftal for 22,000 dinars can be resold for two or three times the price. In July, Naftal had to announce plans to import 3.5 million tires in an attempt to end the shortage. The country promising to manufacture its own wheels in 2028 cannot even manage to import enough of them in 2026.
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There is a cruel irony in hearing the president denounce “tire inflation” in front of an audience whose customers must wait months just to get something to inflate.
The mirage as a method
None of this is new. Algeria’s regime has always preferred announcements to results, distant deadlines to immediate accountability. The end of 2028 is convenient: far enough away that nobody has to demand answers tomorrow, yet close enough to the end of the president’s term to serve as an electoral promise. If the car never materializes, the blame will fall, as usual, on France, Morocco, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
In the meantime, Algerians will keep driving on worn-out tires, in cars imported in dribs and drabs, listening on the radio to promises that they will soon be making their own. They are not asking for a national car, after all. They are asking for two tires.
