A new manufacturing line for double-decker buses will be launched in Egypt to export 60 of the London icons to the United Kingdom, Egypt's Ministry of Trade and Industry revealed Sunday.
The launch marks the first time for Egypt to export the world-famous red double-decker bus, a historic transportation vehicle in London which has become one of the most widely recognized symbols of the city.
The buses will be manufactured and exported by Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles, a multinational Egyptian company that mainly produces commercial trucks and buses.
During his Sunday visit to MCV's factory in New Salheya city near Cairo, Egyptian trade and industry minister Tarek Kabil said that the launch is a testament from foreign markets to the quality of the Egyptian product.
"Launching a direct manufacturing line for the export of 60 double-decker buses for the first time to Britain. Egyptian manufacturing."
He added that it is also a testament to the Egyptian product's adherence to the highest local and international standards and specification requirements, as well as its ability to compete with its imported counterpart.
In addition, Kabil said that the investments of MCV's New Salheya factory complex are 100 percent Egyptian, adding that they reach 500 million Egyptian pounds.
"Finally, after seven months of uphill working, we released the first Hybrid Double Decker vehicle in the Middle East. Proud of being one of the engineers who built this Egyptian monster," Egyptian engineer Hesham Muhammed Ali said, who worked on the new product, in an Instagram post .
Although this particular UK deal is a first for MCV, the Egyptian company has been steadily exporting its commercial vehicles for years.
MCV produces between 8,000 and 10,000 buses on an annual basis, of which between 5,000 and 8,000 are exported to several key markets across the world including Hong Kong and Australia.
The company was founded in 1994, shortly after which it became the official agent for German automotive giant Daimler AG in Egypt. It later established its own bus factory, which was the largest factory in the Middle East for manufacturing all types of superstructure
MCV then went global, increasing its exporting power, opening international branches and establishing its presence in more than 24 countries around the world. Today, the Egypt-based corporation is one of the largest commercial vehicle manufacturers in the world.