Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.4 /Trend F.Milad/
Iran imported some 23.000 cars in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (ended on October 21), head of Iran's Costums Administration said on Sunday.
The figure shows 12 percent increase compared to the same period previous year, the IRNA News Agency quoted Abbas Memarnejad as saying.
The cars were mainly imported from the South Korea and China, he added.
Tehran Times reported in September that Iran imported more than 15.750 luxury cars, worth around $ 341 million during the first five months of the current Iranian year, which began on March 20, showing some 30 percent rise year-on-year.
The cars were mainly imported from the UAE, South Korea and Oman.
Iran's automobile market is highly protected against imports, allowing import of only 40.000 vehicles last year, despite steadily growing demand mostly met through domestic production of some 1.6 million cars per year.
Currently there are an estimated 14 million vehicles on Iran's roads, more than double of the six million registered in 2005.
Iran's car output in the first six months of the current calendar year (ended on September 21), fell by 42 percent compared to the same period last year, the ISNA News Agency reported.
On October 8, Iranian giant carmaker Iran Khodro (IKCO) increased its product prices by 10 percent, while the other Iranian carmaker, Saipa, boosted prices by 20 percent .
Decrease of domestic production and rise of import limitations as well as dollar price growth led to unprecedented increase in car prices in Iran.
On September 15, the ILNA news agency reported that prices of different cars increased by around 35 percent on the average since March 2011.
According to the report, supply has decreased but demand is still high.
Iran plans to manufacture at least three million cars by 2025 and export some one million sets, the Fars News Agency quoted Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari as saying on June 16.
"Some 1.6 million cars were manufactured in the past calendar year and 55.000 cars were exported," Ghazanfari said.
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