Tehran, Iran, Jan. 14
Trend:
An official with the Iranian Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association said the car prices have been increased to save component producers.
Speaking to Trend News Agency, Secretary of the Iranian Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association Mohammadreza Najafi-Manesh pointed to the prices of Iranian-made cars and said the increase does not compensate for the losses incurred.
“It cannot be said the approved prices are a great help for car production,” he said.
After carmaker Iran Khodro jacked up prices twice over the past few weeks, its archrival, SAIPA, apparently did not waste precious time. The second biggest carmaker raised the prices of its three models over the weekend.
“From the beginning of this year (on March 21, 2018) to the end of December, the losses of automakers reached $1.8 billion. These losses are for production of 500,000 to 600,000 cars, which means, on average, for each car, the automakers have lost about $1000,” said Najafi-Manesh.
“The prices should increase by 80 to 140 percent to save the component producers,” he added.
“If the prices of components do not increase, the [component] industry cannot continue to produce,” said Najafi-Manesh.