General Motors marks 100 years in Africa & Middle East with renewed regional commitment to shaping mobility

As General Motors (GM) Africa & Middle East celebrates a century of shaping mobility, GM’s renewed commitment to the region continues offering customer choice with reliability, patented innovation and partnership-led progress for the next hundred years and beyond. 

Over the last half of a century, more than 4.5 million vehicles have been sold across the region, demonstrating the enduring record of how GM helped move people and economies through boom years, disruption, and rapid urban growth. Volumes stretched out across North African countries, Levant region as well as the Gulf. This included: Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. 

The most loved nameplates included GM’s full-size pickups such as the Chevrolet Silverado and T-Series and GMC Sierra, as well as sedans from across Chevrolet – like the Caprice, Camaro and Malibu – and luxury icons from Cadillac that included the Fleetwood and DeVille. 

Additionally, full-size SUVs became steadily popular as the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade were introduced, giving customers an extended array of vehicles, catering to every lifestyle. GM vehicles became fixtures of family life, commerce, heritage and nation-building. And, GM continued to evolve its portfolio with more accessible, Chevrolet mainstream models such as the Optra, Groove and Captiva. Meanwhile, halo icons such as Chevrolet Corvette and Cadillac V-Series marked milestones in design and performance. Together, those nameplates turned the region’s roads into a marketplace and a living museum of GM engineering across eras.

As customer expectations evolve, GM is also redefining what it means to own and drive a vehicle in the region through OnStar, its in-vehicle connected technology platform that brings together connectivity, safety and entertainment backed by the human touch.

From an industrial development lens, GM Africa & Middle East has played a vital role in building local talent, diversifying the supply chain, and exporting to the wider region. In fact, in the last 40 years, GM’s plant at 6th of October City, Cairo, Egypt has produced over one-million vehicles, becoming the first private manufacturer to reach this record figure in the country. GM Egypt’s plant is regarded as the most advanced automotive manufacturing facility in the country, working with more than 80 local suppliers and global partners to bring global quality and know-how to the region.
 
Meanwhile, GM’s service and parts story in the region dates back to 1927, when Alexandria became the launchpad for modern automotive service, dispatching teams to equip and train dealers in countries where the very concept of vehicle servicing was still new. By 1936, GM’s Parts Department was recognized as the best in the world across its export operations, following the start of GM Service Parts activities in Egypt assembling components for GM trucks and cars, and even Frigidaire refrigerators at the time.

Over the decades, this foundation evolved into today’s GM Genuine Parts and ACDelco brands, built around safety and reliability and serving all vehicle makes. Today, at the heart of this ecosystem sits the Middle East Distribution Center (MEDC) based in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which today supports the movement of parts sourced from five continents, enabling efficient, reliable distribution across Africa and the Middle East.
In Saudi Arabia, ACDelco batteries have been locally produced for the past 25 years, helping keep vehicles on the road as the region advanced. Across Africa and the Middle East, ACDelco and GM Genuine Parts became a constant in workshops, service bays, and parts counters as mobility needs evolved. To date, close to 60 million batteries have been sold, while also supporting a vast independent aftermarket and actively combatting counterfeit products to protect customers and communities.

What began as core maintenance support matured into a trusted aftersales ecosystem mirroring shifts in customer expectations around durability, availability, and professional service. As vehicle generations change and technologies advance, GM’s story continues, with GM Genuine Parts and ACDelco remaining the thread that link engineering to everyday use supporting livelihoods, extending vehicle life, and anchoring reliability and quality long after the showroom.

Those milestones underscore GM’s deep industrial footprint, resilient global and local supply chains, as well as its long-term investment in local economies. GM's presence in the region has always been defined by partnerships — growing alongside its government partners, dealers, suppliers, employees and customers, building trust over time. 

Jorge Plata, President and Managing Director, GM Africa & Middle East, said: “For a hundred years, General Motors has grown with Africa and the Middle East – from our first plant in Alexandria to millions of vehicles and parts that became part of everyday life across the Middle East. That journey belongs first to our customers, dealers and partners who put their trust in our brands. Today, we are renewing our commitment to move forward together and continue investing in the region’s promising visions. Throughout the year, we will be putting our communities’ stories at the center. Starting with customers, we are honoring their loyalty with offers across Chevrolet and GMC in select markets and will launch a regional campaign inviting the wider public to go back in time to share moments and memories with our vehicles. Meanwhile, we will also shine a light on our long-standing dealers and valued partners whom – together with GM – have helped drive jobs, industrial capability and economic growth in their countries. And, stay tuned as Cadillac returns to Egypt and we put people in the GCC in the driver’s seat to experience GM’s cutting-edge in-vehicle technology with our world-first Super Cruise hands-free advanced driver assistance, our stepping-stone propelling us forward toward a brighter future that is safer, smarter and more rewarding for everyone we serve.”

As part of its centennial year, General Motors is offering customers a series of enhanced retail offers and market-level activations across Chevrolet and GMC. More than just offers, these initiatives reflect GM's commitment to giving back to its customers and communities by delivering greater value and meaningful benefits across key markets in the region.

Building on this customer-first approach, GM and its brands will roll out additional region-wide centennial activities celebrating shared milestones and looking ahead to the future of mobility. These include heritage storytelling, market-specific initiatives, and customer-facing programs designed to strengthen engagement and reinforce the company's long-term presence in the region. GM dealers will communicate their retail offers and activations at market level, tailored to local customer needs.

General Motors remains focused on strengthening local industry, expanding its supplier and dealer ecosystem, and accelerating the next wave of innovation in connected and advanced driver assistance technologies. Collectively, through robust, long-standing partnerships with the public and private sectors of the region, the aim is to promote safety on roads and smarter, seamless connected journeys.