Were less than a month away from Tehran Motor Show and that is while various incidents like US sanctions against Iran , bad economy and self-sanctioning like banning the imports of foreign vehicles turned this motor show to a perfect playground for the mafia of domestic car manufacturers.
It is rough these days with the Iran automobile industry. Sanctions are showing effects on the industry without any counter measures from the sleeping authorities. Yet the negligence of some companies cannot be waivered.
Lack of oversight of the country's automotive industry has led to the sale of expensive cars, hoarding, market integration and rent on car imports. These are the questions that the Minister of Industry must have a convincing answers for them.
National Competition Council, Consumers and Producers Protection Organization, Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, Parliament, Car makers… which one is responsible for this mess in car market and price increments?
Currency tensions affected many industries and motorcycle industry is no an exception. After the challenges like reaching Euro 4 standards and motorcycles’ plating, this time they are facing price increments of raw materials, parts and also the problems about clearance.
Iraq, where Iran ian are not too fund of, turned to be the main export destination of Iran ’s automobile industry so far. It also looked to be a good dear for lots of years to come but the whole plan change with US government pulling out of JCPOA making even Iraq along other European companies to reduce its automotive relations with Iran .
Iran automobile industry started a new unique project of producing unfinished cars since the auto parts were not released from the customs since end of July. Just in two weeks absence of the parts 50 thousand unfinished vehicles were produced. That is a huge illogical number of production especially for an industry which is claiming a lot about being self-sufficient. There lots of unfinished vehicles left abandoned while they just await one single signature to let the parts released from customs and get their production complete.
The beginning of sanctions gave international car makers enough reasons to leave Iran car market and their mutual contracts behind. It is interesting though that Iran ian authorities blamed themselves as the main reason why Renault has left Iran and no the sanction, as they did not live up to their commitments in the contract.
Iran ’s economy is in a bad situation these days and it includes the automotive industry. Financial tensions affected the auto part manufacturers in a way that few companies are going to be bankrupt. Does any ministry or organization care about this terrible situation?
By the beginning of the first phase of sanctions, car after-sale services felt a great danger. This field is mostly affiliated to the automotive industry but nobody has payed attention to it.
This time in addition to the banking sanctions, automakers will taste it. Automotive industry was first to benefit from sanctions and attracted many foreign partners but now everything will change.
Iran ’s car market had many guests since the revolution and one of the most important countries was South Korea which signed few contracts with domestic companies and offered a complete portfolio.
It is about 15 years that the government is working on worn out vehicle scrappage scheme and each time, government face an obstacle. Now, some private companies re-launch the issue of golden cards for the renovation of worn-out cars for 25,000 vehicles but members of scrappage forum says that the government has no plan for it.
Iran ’s automotive industry faced many challenges from the beginning until today, which led to its tendency into few special directions. Important factors contributed to this trend shift.
After-sale services are important to the truck and heavy duty vehicle producers due to limited customers and usage. Therefore, these carmakers concentrated on keeping their loyal customers. Were they successful?
The private sector in automotive industry developed and grew so fast that they were able to increase their market share in comparison to the last year. However, the question is that why they are not supported?