TEHRAN,Iran, March 2
Trend:
Iran's auto market has suffered due to the spread of coronavirus, the head of Iran's Auto Exhibition and Dealers Union Saeed Motameni told Trend.
"Although the number of customers to purchase cars usually increases by the end of each Iranian year, but not this time," he added.
"The coronavirus outbreak psychologically affects people, so people postpone purchasing cars," he said.
He added that prices on some cars in Iran, such as "Pride" has dropped by some $1600, while other models such as "Tiba" increased to $18,330, and "Peugeot" 206 was sold for about $38,000.
"The buyers should only purchase vehicles from permitted auto dealers ," he said.
"Some of the second hand vehicles have problems and the buyers were not informed about them," he said.
Iran is one of the recent countries, affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 1,500 people have been infected, 66 people have already died.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The disease in Iran has already spread to at least fifteen Iranian provinces.
Following the reports of coronavirus spread in the Islamic Republic, several countries have taken measures, including closing borders and banning flights.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.