Baku, Azerbaijan, March8
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian Saipa and Chinese Changan car manufacturing companies have agreed to produce two models of cars jointly, ISNA reported on March 8.
The two sides signed an agreement in this regard at the Changan factory's site, located in the city of Beijing.
The two models of car will be produced in Saipa Kashan, a subsidiary of Saipa, which has the capacity to produce 180,000 cars per annum.
Iran produced 502,273 cars in the first three quarters of the current Iranian calendar year, which started on March 21.
Iran exported 4,824 sedans during the first nine months of the current solar year, which indicates an 88.97 percent decrease compared to the same period of last year.
The value of the exported cars was around $33 million which is 87.24 percent less than in the same period of last year, according to the Iranian Custom Administration's latest monthly report released on Dec. 28.
Iran has exported 2542, 1147 and 612 sedan cars to Iraq, Azerbaijan and Egypt respectively during the period.
Iran has imported 33,899 cars from the UAE, 7,099 cars from China and 1,529 cars from Kuwait during the period.
On Feb. 18, Ali Ali-lou, a member of the Iranian parliamentary Industries and Mines Committee, said Iran was planning to cut car import tariffs to zero in two year period. He said the measure was necessary to boost domestic production and make the auto industry competitive with its counterparts worldwide, according to Al-monitor website.
The administration of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad increased car import duties as much as 90% last year, a measure that experts believe led to a marked deterioration of quality in the Iranian market monopolized by three major car manufacturers: Iran Khodro, Pars Khodro and Saipa.
In the fiscal year ending on March 2013, Iran's vehicle production fell to 920,000 units, down from 1.65 million in the previous 12 months. Over the past 11 months, production has declined even further to about 655,500 due to external shocks, stemming from the intensification of trade and financial sanctions since 2011, coupled with macroeconomic and microeconomic mismanagement.
Iranian auto manufacturers hope that the sanctions relief announced in January will provide a breath of fresh air to the sector, which has shed 115,000 to 130,000 workers since July 2011.