King Mohammed VI Presides over Presentation of Two Moroccan-Made Cars

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI presides over the unveiling of the vehicles. (MAP)
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI presides over the unveiling of the vehicles. (MAP)
TT

King Mohammed VI Presides over Presentation of Two Moroccan-Made Cars

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI presides over the unveiling of the vehicles. (MAP)
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI presides over the unveiling of the vehicles. (MAP)

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI presided on Monday over the presentation ceremony of a model of the first Moroccan car brand and a hydrogen-powered vehicle prototype. The event was held at the Royal Palace in Rabat.

The projects, developed by Moroccan entrepreneurs, will strengthen the “Made in Morocco” label and establish the country as a competitive hub for automotive production.

Neo Motors has set up an industrial factory in Ain Aouda, southeast of the capital, to manufacture vehicles for the local market and for export, reported the MAP state news agency.

The factory is projected to produce 27,000 cars a year and create 580 jobs. Investment in the project is worth 156 million dirhams ($15.6 million).

In February 2023, the National Agency for Road Safety granted final approval for Neo Motors’ first vehicle. The company launched pre-production, with the plant’s inauguration scheduled for June 2023.

Neo Motors CEO Nassim Belkhayat said the newly unveiled car operates on benzine and is available with three doors, noting that it is the outcome of “the work of an enthusiastic team”.

The vehicle will be sold in the Moroccan market for prices ranging between 170,000-190,000 dirhams ($17,000-$19,000).

The prototype of the hydrogen vehicle, NamX, was designed in collaboration with Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, Pininfarina.

The HUV model will be supplied with hydrogen through a central tank that will be completed by six removable capsules, guaranteeing a battery capacity of up to 800 km and facilitating the hydrogen recharge in a few minutes.

The production of the car will start in late 2026 and will be sold in Morocco and exported to Europe and the US.

On the sidelines of the ceremony, King Mohammed VI honored Belkhayat and NamX President Faouzi Annajah with a medal of intellectual merit.

The ceremony was attended by Minister of Industry and Trade Riad Mazour, who expressed the country’s pride in its latest car innovation.



Sam Altman Says Meta Offered $100 Million Bonuses to OpenAI Employees 

The logo of Meta is seen at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 11, 2025. (Reuters) 
The logo of Meta is seen at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 11, 2025. (Reuters) 
TT

Sam Altman Says Meta Offered $100 Million Bonuses to OpenAI Employees 

The logo of Meta is seen at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 11, 2025. (Reuters) 
The logo of Meta is seen at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 11, 2025. (Reuters) 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Meta has offered his employees bonuses of $100 million to recruit them, as the tech giant seeks to ramp up its artificial intelligence strategy.

The alleged attempts by Meta to hire OpenAI staffers are the latest signs of a frenzy to hire top engineers to develop AI models, and they come at a time when the Facebook owner is working on building its superintelligence unit to catch up with competitors.

Competition for AI talent has reached a feverish pitch as superstar researchers are being courted like professional athletes on the belief that individual contributors can make or break companies.

"They (Meta) started making giant offers to a lot of people on our team," Altman said on the Uncapped podcast that aired on Tuesday, hosted by his brother. "You know, like $100 million signing bonuses, more than that (in) compensation per year."

"At least, so far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that," Altman said.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours, and Reuters could not verify the information.

"I've heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor," Altman said.

His comments come just days after Meta invested $14.3 billion in data-labeling startup Scale AI, and hired its top boss, Alexandr Wang, to lead its new superintelligence team.

Meta, once recognized as a leader in open-source AI models, has suffered from staff departures and has postponed the launches of new open-source AI models that could rival competitors like Google, China's DeepSeek and OpenAI.