What is the Main Cause of Automobile Importation Ban?

Khodrocar – It is almost a year and half that the vehicle importation has become a serious trouble in the automotive industry. It is said to be roughly 20 thousand vehicles stuck in the customs due to political and economic reasons. But what is the real problem of the government with vehicle importation?

"Some people wrongly believe that vehicle importation is parallel to US sanctions imposed on Iran and we should not help them reach their goals by importing vehicles.” Said Mehdi Dadfar, Chairman of Vehicle Importers Association.

"This is not a true assumption. Importation cannot replace domestic production vehicles if they are produced with good quality and competitive price.” He added.

Chairman of Vehicle Importers Association believes that "Auto part makers have great political influence over the government and the automobile industry with a lot of money backing them up. They are powerful enough that they actually made domestic car makers to be exempt from scrapping worn out vehicles. It was done with the excuse of not to let the price of the domestic car makers products to increase. But why is it that now with great increment in price of those very products, nobody notes the high price tag anymore?”

"I do not mean to free importation of vehicles but we should not be fooled with some nice promises given by the domestic car makers. People deserve high quality goods with proper prices. But the government banned vehicle importation almost for a year and half now.” Said Dadfar.

"In the first half of this year almost 12 thousand vehicles were imported into the country that shows a 62 percent drop in comparison to the same period of time in the last year. Keep going on the way they are doing now, it is likely not to even reach the 20 thousand mark line by the end of the year. Interestingly with a 70 percent drop in vehicle importation this year, the vehicle importation taxes grow up to 833 percent and caused the government to make 58.7 percent of its annual income from automobile importation taxes. They just need another 10 thousand vehicles to import just to hit their predicted goal of vehicle importation tax income.” Said Dadfar.

"We have heard lots of bad news last week. Some famous vehicle importers are going to totally shut down their firms by the end of this month. About 280 worn put vehicle scrappage yards are going to stop their operations as well. The government will have to face 4 to 5 thousand unemployed expert personnel from all related fields of automobile industry like sales, marketing, after sales services, shipping and insurance.” He added.

"What auto part manufacturers do not want to face is to bare the expenses needed for upgrading their production lines as a new vehicle takes the place of the former. They would like to keep production of old-tech parts with higher price. So far, they have almost succeeded.” Said Mehdi Dadfar.

Khodrocar – This is the policy the government has chosen to follow and we must wait to see where it leads. This policy looks more like self-sanction in the shades of supporting domestic vehicles production. The profit will go in the pockets of just some pre-determined individuals and it is the mob who is paying the price.

Khodrocar Journalist and Translator: Mostafa Anisi