Tehran, Iran, June 18
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
French carmaker Renault sold 3,280 vehicles in Iranian market in May.
The figure shows a 52 percent increase compared to April, Iran's Tasnim News Agency reported on June 18. The French company sold 2,150 vehicles in Iranian market in April.
Renault used to monthly sell over 10,000 vehicles in Iran before the U.S.-engineered sanctions hit Iran's car industry in 2012.
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, AFP reported in November.
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 percent of its gross domestic product.
Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) signed an interim agreement over Tehran's nuclear program in Geneva on November 24, 2013, according to which Iran agreed not to expand its nuclear program and to suspend its 20 percent uranium enrichment in return for a limited easing of the sanctions imposed on the country.