Tehran, Iran, July 21
By Temkin Jafarov, Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
An Iranian MP says if foreign companies find their way to the Iranian automobile market and start manufacturing cars jointly with Iranian carmakers their products will find a lot of fans.
As Iran 's nuclear case has pushed its way through to a comprehensive deal that will remove sanctions on the Iranian economy, prospects are high that foreign car manufacturing companies could introduce their products to the Iranian market.
This is evident in the fact that some agents of foreign companies in Iran have started offering considerable discounts on their products.
Due to the fact that Iranians are looking for cars with new options, it is likely that joint productions will be warmly welcomed, Moayed Hosseini Sadr, member of the Iranian Parliament's Industry and Mine Commission told Trend July 21.
It is especially a good thing since the workforce is cheap here, taxes are low, there is an exclusive market, and neighboring countries like Afghanistan and Iraq can provide good markets for Iranian-made cars, he added.
Iran produced more than 1.13 million cars in the past fiscal year (ended on March 20). Sedan cars output stood at 958,335 in the mentioned period, a 53 percent rise year on year. Iran also produced 150,929 pickup trucks, 20,239 trucks, 482 buses, and 179 minibuses in the 12-month period.
"It seems that investment in the Iranian car industry is attractive to foreigners, especially since we need one million new cars every year. Besides that, about 70 percent of the heavy vehicles in the country are old," Sadr stated, concluding that there is market for all sorts of vehicles in Iran.
The MP predicts that great changes will happen to the Iranian car industry in the coming years. Asked if car prices will lower after sanctions are lifted, Sadr said that he doubted it since the government has adopted policies to fix currency rates.
On July 20 a business delegation from Germany visited Iran to seek post-sanctions opportunities in Iran. Representatives of big car manufacturing brands were among the delegation.
Iran and the group P5+1 (the US, UK, France , Russia, China, and Germany) struck a deal on July 14 which will lift sanctions on the Iranian economy.
Edited by CN