TEHRAN, Iran, Jan.21
Trend:
Iran's auto market is facing low sale due to the increase of domestic produced vehicles, said a member of Iran's Automobile Dealers Association.
Alireza Pour Hosseini discussed the auto market situation in an interview with Trend.
"The volume of auto sale has dropped in current Iranian year [began March 21, 2019] compared to last Iranian year [began March 21, 2018]. People can not afford to purchase some models," Hosseini said. "For example, prices of Renault L90 and Renault Sandero have increased significantly in the past two years, while people's purchase power has decreased."
"Two years ago, the price of Renault Sandero was 500 million rials [about $11,900], while today it stands at 2.1 billion rials [about $50,000]. The price of Sandero Stepway increased from 600 million rials [about $14,280] in 2017 to 2.4 billion rials [about $57,100]; thus, the number of customers has dropped," the member of the association said.
"If the import of secondhand vehicles is allowed, diversity on the car market will increase and positively effect the prices," Hosseini added. "The price of new foreign vehicles exceeds 5 billion rials [about $119,000], but the secondhand cars have less price, provided the customs fare is not too high."
"The imported cars that were produced three years ago would be suitable for our market in terms of fuel consumption, technology or low emission, while domestic producers can improve the quality and diversity of their products," he said adding that products of SAIPA, Iran's major auto maker, sharply increased the price.
"The price of Pride is currently about $12,000, of Tiba - about $16,000, of Quick - $18,000, and of Stepway - $57,000," Hosseini noted.