Differences between the words of Minister and the reality

Khodrocar – Mohammad Shariatmadari was so far very conservative but yesterday he didn’t look like anything he was before and said that the automotive private sector can become third power of Iran’s automotive industry beside Iran Khodro and Saipa. On the other hand, Ahmad Nematbakhsh, Secretary of Iran Vehicle Manufacturers Association said that there are 81 automobile licenses in the country which only 28 companies are active in this regard.

This is while the auto import tariffs are illogically high that none of imported high quality cars are able to compete with domestic vehicles because of their expensive prices. This creates a non-competitive atmosphere in automotive industry and keeps the two major Iranian automakers alive.

Now, considering this non-competitive atmosphere, is it possible to think about the creation of another power in Iran’s automotive industry beside Iran Khodro and Saipa?

Farbod Zaveh, an automotive industry expert, told Khodrocar regarding the issue: "The major problem is management and laws. The government should stop its interference in this industry, otherwise nothing positive is going to happen. Companies like Bahman Motor Group, Kerman Motor Co. do have production lines but they can’t grow in this non-competitive atmosphere."

He added: "Even a great company like Toyota can’t establish a company in Iran due to the complexity of rules. This bureaucracy murders the companies which belong to private sector."

Zaveh explained: "The first step to improve automotive business space is that the government must ban their deputies from interfering in the automotive industry. The second step is to not allow government executives to be members of the board of directors of automotive companies."

This automotive industry expert stated: "In this situation, even if a great company like Toyota decides to build a company in Iran, the first question for them is that why they should be the third power in Iran’s automotive industry. This shows that even our authorities are not careful about their words."

Considering this situation, the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade must first organize this unstable situation of automotive industry and then think about creating a third power in this field.

Khodrocar reporter: Asal Dadashloo
Khodrocar translator: Maziyar Jafarieh