Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 30
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
International investors will enter Iran's automotive market in the near future, ISNA quoted Patrick Blain, the president of the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, as saying on November 30.
Speaking at an international conference in Tehran, he said that the future of Iran's automotive industry is promising.
Thanks to good potentials of Iranian automotive industry, international investors will certainly enter Iran's market in the near future, he said.
Iran has the capability to be among the top 10 car makers in the world, he added.
The International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers was founded in Paris in 1919. It is known as the "Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles" (OICA).
French carmakers Peugeot and Renault look to be among the clearest beneficiaries of the interim deal that lifts some sanctions on Iran, with both hoping to leap back into the Middle East's biggest auto market, according to AFP.
PSA Peugeot Citroen was the top car manufacturer in Iran before the sanctions, selling 458,000 vehicles in 2011 in what used to be its second-biggest market worldwide after France. Its cars, most of them assembled by an Iranian partner firm and re-branded, are ubiquitous on Tehran roads.
Renault sold 103,000 vehicles there last year before leaving.
Iran itself counts car manufacturing as its second-biggest industry after oil, accounting for 10 per cent of its gross domestic product.
Before the sanctions, there were 1.4 million new cars entering its market.
After the sanctions, that number fell by more than a third -- but it still remains the biggest market in the Middle East, more than twice as big as Saudi Arabia.