Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.14/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iranian Industry, Mines, and Trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh has ordered major car manufacturers to increase the country's car output.
"The country's car output in the first half of the current calendar year (started March 21) faced a 44 percent decrease compared to the same period the previous year," the IRIB News Agency quoted Nematzadeh as saying.
"Iran's sedan car production in the previous year also faced a 45 percent decrease compared to its preceding year," he said.
"The recent fall in the price of cars is in line with the country's goal to increase the output," he added.
"Last year for the first time after the Islamic Revolution, the country's economic growth was negative. This means that people prefer to buy gold coins and foreign currencies instead of using their money for long-term investments," Nematzadeh said.
Iran produced 291,638 cars in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year, which started on March 21, the ISNA News Agency reported.
Some 247,315 sedan cars, 40,629 pickup trucks, 3,485 trucks, 184 buses, and 25 minibuses were produced in the country in the mentioned period.
Iran produced 989,110 cars in 2012, which made the country Asia's eighth largest car manufacturer.
Iran also stood at the world's 18th place, the ISNA News Agency reported.
China, Japan, South Korea, India, Thailand, Turkey, and Indonesia were Asia's seven largest car manufacturers.
Iran's automobile output faced 40 percent decrease in 2012. The country was Asia's 5th largest car manufacturer in 2011, with a total output of 1,648,505 vehicles.
Increasing prices of raw materials and foreign currencies are the main problems that the car manufacturers are facing.
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