Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 20
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Renault exported 36,200 cars to Iran in 2014.
The French carmaker announced that it exported 4,220 cars to Iran in December 2014, Iran 's Mehr news agency reported on Jan. 20.
However, exports of Renault cars to Iran dropped by 9 percent compared to 2013.
In 2014, Renault exported 1,500 cars in January, 1,650 cars in February, 2,500 cars in March, 2,150 cars in April, 3,280 cars in May, 4,500 cars in June, 4,120 cars in July, 3,100 cars in August, 2,600 cars in September, 2,600 cars in October, 780 cars in November, according to the report.
Peyman Kargar, Renault Managing Director for Middle East, said in December 2014 that Renault sees Iran as a strategic partner and will continue making joint ventures with Iranian companies.
The company has the capacity to produce 300,000 cars in Iran, he added.
French Ambassador to Tehran Bruno Foucher has said that France is waiting for talks between Iran and world powers on Iran 's nuclear program to expand its markets in Iran.
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.
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.
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