Azerbaijan, Baku, Sep.17/ Trend F.Milad/
Over 15,750 luxury cars worth around $341 million, have been imported into Iran during the first five months of the current Iranian year which began on March 20, showing some 30 per cent rise year on year. The average price of each car was $21,648, the ISNA news agency reported.
The cars were mainly imported from the UAE, South Korea, and Oman.
Wealthy Iranians are fuelling an unprecedented luxury car boom despite sanctions hurting their economy by paying up to $360,000 for high-end autos, AFP reported in April.
"Buyers are paying upfront for these cars which generally cost two to three times more than abroad," one car salesman in Tehran told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A newspaper citing the official customs data, Hafte-Sobh, reported that "some 563 different Porsche models were sold in the last Iranian year (to March 2012)," worth a total of $50 million before a hefty 100 per cent import tax.
Iran's automobile market is highly protected against imports allowing in only 40,000 vehicles last year. This is despite a steadily growing demand mostly met through domestic production of some 1.6 million cars per year.
There are now an estimated 14 million vehicles on Iran's roads, more than double the six million registered in 2005.