TEHRAN - The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said 13,227 brand-new passenger cars were imported into the customs campuses of the country since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20 to August 15, 2024).

Offering the latest report on the situation of import of passenger cars into the country, Mohammad Rezvanifar put the value of the imported cars at about $227 million, Mehr News Agency reported.

“Last year, during the same period, 738 cars worth 15.6 million dollars entered the country and cleared customs,” the official said.

Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade lifted the ban on car imports in late May 2022.

The decision was made to reduce the imbalance between supply and demand and to improve the country’s economic conditions with regard to foreign currency revenues.

Iranian automakers currently produce about one million cars annually, while the domestic demand for automobiles is over 1.5 million, so since the domestic manufacturers are not able to meet the market’s demand the government decided to allow imports.

Iran's major carmakers produced more than 1.13 million passenger cars in the previous calendar year ending March 19, showing a six percent growth compared to the figure for the previous year, an industry official said.

Mehrdad Khosravi, director of the Automotive Industries Office of the Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade, said the production of pickup trucks also saw a 32 percent increase this year at 166,000 vehicles.

Over 40,000 commercial vehicles, including different kinds of vans, minibuses, buses, trucks, and trailers, have also been manufactured this year, which is about two percent more than last year's output in this sector, he added.

Khosravi pointed out that the private sector's share in the automotive industry was 23 percent of the total production with around 307,000 vehicles.

The production of motorcycles was also on an upward trajectory last year at over 600,000 motorcycles, the official said. That is an increase of about 28 percent compared to the previous year's output.

EF/MA