TEHRAN – Manufacturing of passenger cars in Iran rose 1.4 percent during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), compared to the same period of time in the past year.

The production of buses, minibuses, and vans also increased by 12.5 percent, while manufacturing of trucks and heavy vehicles rose 64.4 percent, Mehr News Agency reported, citing data released by the Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade.

Some 507,300 passenger cars were manufactured during the seven-month period of this year, compared with 500,000 in the previous year.

Meanwhile, 1,136 buses, minibuses and vans were manufactured, while the figure was 1,010 last 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).

The country has been following a program for supporting the auto industry as domestic automakers have been facing some problems in supplying their needed parts and equipment due to the U.S. sanctions.

According to the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), exports of automobiles and auto parts reached $58.407 million in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year.

Ruhollah Latifi said that $7.217 million worth of cars were exported to 12 countries, mainly to Azerbaijan, China, Spain, Russia, Senegal, Ukraine, Iraq, and Turkey.

EF/MG