Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.1
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iranian carmakers will continue cooperation with China just till 2021.
Saeid Madani, Managing Director of Iranian carmaker Saipa, said cooperation with Chinese partners will not continue in the long run, Iran's Mehr news agency reported Dec. 1.
"We will cooperate with Chinese companies in the short-term just to deal with the problem of joint venture and platform," he added.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of the 2nd Iran Auto Industry International Conference, which opened today in Tehran.
Saipa is mostly in cooperation with Nissan and Renault, he said, adding that Saipa has been negotiating with Volvo in order to launch joint ventures.
For the time being, less than five percent of Saipa cars are manufactured in cooperation with Chinese companies, he noted.
Foreign automakers seeking a return to the potentially huge Iranian market with the lifting of international sanctions will find the business environment has changed: former joint venture partners now want to play the game by their own rules.
Iran's auto industry has been a major casualty of penalties imposed over the Islamic republic's nuclear program, with production plummeting and workers laid off because of the ensuing economic slowdown.
U.S. sanctions on the auto industry in 2013 were the main cause, on top of American and European bans on Iranian bank transactions abroad.
But the auto sanctions were lifted earlier this year after an interim nuclear agreement was reached between Iran and world powers and a final accord is still on the horizon, raising the prospect of better times for the industry.
Edited by CN