TEHRAN - Three major Iranian carmakers, namely Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), SAIPA Group, and Pars Khodro, manufactured 345,392 vehicles during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22), the data released by Codal website showed.

According to the data, the production by the mentioned companies has decreased by 0.83 percent compared to the previous year’s same five months in which the output stood at 348,303.

During the said five months, IKCO manufactured 169,956 vehicles, 891 vehicles more than the same period last year.

During this period, this industrial group was able to produce 116,502 vehicles in the Peugeot group, 18,984 vehicles in the Samand group, 20,08 Dena vehicles, 11,061 Rana vehicles, 1,957 Haima vehicles, and 1,341 Tara vehicles.

SAIPA manufactured 131,699 vehicles in the mentioned period. Production by this automaker fell 4.28 percent in comparison to the previous year’s same time span.

Pars Khodro also manufactured 43,767 vehicles in the period under review, of which 8,759 were manufactured in the fifth month.

The mentioned producer’s output in the said period increased by five percent compared to the last year’s same five months.

Last week, new Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Seyyed Reza Fatemi Amin said that his ministry has a two-year plan for the auto industry based on which this industry will undergo serious changes and improve significantly.

“We must strengthen competition, improve management and economic mechanisms, and increase production in the auto industry in order to succeed in our plans,” Fatemi Amin said.

"Our plan is to produce 1.6 million vehicles next year (begins in March 2022), which will increase to three million units in [the Iranian calendar year] 1404 (begins in March 2025), and 30 percent of the production, equivalent to about one million units, should be sent to export markets," he added.

Iran’s major carmakers had manufactured 900,714 vehicles in the previous year (ended on March 20), which was 4.3 percent more than the figure of its preceding year.

According to Codal data, during the past year, IKCO manufactured 480,338 vehicles, which was 21.9 percent more than the output in its preceding year, which was 393,812 vehicles.

SAIPA manufactured 317,321 vehicles, with a 12.6-percent fall from 363,379 vehicles manufactured in 1398. And Pars Khodro manufactured 103,055 vehicles in the past year, showing a 2.8-percent drop from the output of its previous year, which was 106,072 vehicles.

Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry’s programs for the current Iranian calendar year show that the manufacturing of 1.2 million cars has been put on the agenda.

According to the Industry Ministry data, since Iranian automakers had produced 984,200 such vehicles in the previous calendar year, the country’s car output is planned to increase by over 21.9 percent in the current year.

EF/MA