TEHRAN - Iran’s exports of automobiles and auto parts have reached $58.407 million during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

Ruhollah Latifi said that of the mentioned figure $7.217 million was the value of automobile export.

According to the official, the destinations for the mentioned products were 12 countries on top of which stood Azerbaijan, followed by China, Spain, Russia, Senegal, Ukraine, Iraq and Turkey.

As previously reported, three major Iranian carmakers, namely Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), SAIPA Group, and Pars Khodro, manufactured 501,635 vehicles during the first seven months of the current year.

The production by the mentioned companies has risen 1.1 percent compared to the previous year’s same seven months in which the output stood at 496,095.

During the said seven months, IKCO manufactured 242,276 vehicles, which was 2.8 percent less than the output in the same time span of the previous year.

SAIPA manufactured 192,628 vehicles in the mentioned period. Production by this automaker rose 2.2 percent in comparison to the previous year’s same time span in which the output stood at 188,490.

Pars Khodro also manufactured 66,731 vehicles in the period under review, 14.5 percent more than the output in the first seven months of the past year.

Iran currently stands in 20th place among the world’s top automobile manufacturers producing 821,060 vehicles by the end of 2019, according to the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA), worldpopulationreview.com has recently reported.

Back in August, Iranian 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.

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.

MA/MA