Azerbaijan, Baku Aug. 26 / Trend, N. Umid /
Iranian auto manufacturing companies share about 30-40 percent of domestic car sales with the government, Iran Khodro Industrial Group's CEO Javad Najmeddin said, Iranian Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper reported.
As an example, Najmeddin went on to note that the administration's share from sales of Peugeot 405 (priced at $10,000 in Iran) is around $2,800 (based on official rate of 24,795 rials per each USD).
Iranian car manufacturers asked newly elected Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Mohammadreza Nematzadeh to allow the prices of vehicles to be set by the free market, not the government.
Iranian auto sector suffers increasing prices of raw materials and foreign currencies as well as US imposed sanctions.
According to the new statistics, Iran's auto production has decreased by up to 46.3 percent during first four months of current solar year compared to the same period last year.
It should be recalled that on July 1 U.S imposed a new round of sanctions against anyone involved in Iran's auto industry and anyone caught using Iran's currency, the rial, for "significant transactions."
Some leader auto production companies including Renault have restricted their activities in Iran.
South Korean companies also officially announced that they will not accept orders from Iran for selling car parts to them.
According to projections, the sanctions will lead to a 40 percent rise in production costs in Iranian car-making companies as Korean suppliers used to provide Iranian companies with 60 percent of their needs.
In February 2012, Europe's second largest automaker, PSA Peugeot Citroen, also stopped its business with Iran after the enforcement of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
According to the statistics, about 69 automobile manufacturer units have been closed and 115,000 people lost their jobs in automobile sector of Iran, during the past two years.
Iran's auto sector hopes to neutralize U.S. sanctions effects with Chinese companies' help, while experts argued that, cooperation with Chinese auto production companies is a short term solution and will not be effective in the long term.