Two Egyptian inventors manufacture car for 30K EGP

CAIRO - 4 May 2017: Two Egyptians have manufactured a car that is both unique in design and affordable: the car costs only 30,000 EGP ($1,657). The car is the brainchild of Ahmed Saed, who wanted to design a car that could compete with tuk-tuk, a type of rickshaw, while being safer, affordable and more modern.

Rather than wait for official government funding for his project, Saed decided to look for his own backers and enlisted the help of Mohamed Helal, a Kuwaiti resident.

Saed, who is from Haram neighborhood in the greater Cairo metropolitan area, has a bachelor’s degree in Sharia and Law from Al-Azhar University and used to import motor tricycles and convert them into food carts. Eventually, people in his inner circle advised him to instead create a car which could compete with the tuk-tuk.

"I started working on the idea, until it [crystallized], then I faced the issue of funding the project. So I posted an online ad of my idea with all the details, then Mohamed Helal saw the ad by chance, he liked it, and decided to return to Egypt to help me,” Saed said.

The new car is “a simple means of transport and economical,” with its price sitting between that of a tuk-tuk and a Suzuki. The car can carry up to six people and Saed says it is very safe, and certainly safer than a tuk-tuk. Its manufacturing cost is only 30,000 EGP, while tuk-tuks cost 40,000.

Helal confirmed that he and Saed submitted the project and its papers to Giza governorate to obtain a license to use the car, but they have not received any response so far.