TEHRAN- Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Fatemi Amin said that his ministry has a nine-axis program for evolution in the automotive industry which will be published soon.

The mentioned program includes all challenges and solutions in this industry, the minister noted.

“Car is one of the most political products and important issues in the country, which on the one hand is highly challenged and on the other hand has various capacities”, the official stated.

Pricing should be such that domestic manufacturing has an advantage, the minister further reiterated.

Based on the latest data released by the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry, car manufacturing in Iran has risen 4.7 percent during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-November 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

Iranian carmakers manufactured 651,408 vehicles in the eight-month period of this year, while the figure was 622,144 in the same time span of the previous year.

During the said eight months, IKCO manufactured 319,710 vehicles, which was 0.1 percent less than the output in the same time span of the previous year.

SAIPA manufactured 283,593 vehicles in the mentioned period. Production by this automaker rose 6.2 percent in comparison to the previous year’s same time span.

Deputy Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Mehdi Sadeqi Niaraki has said the country’s car output is expected to increase by 50 percent in the next Iranian calendar year (starts on March 21, 2022).

“Private carmakers are trying to increase their output,” Sadeqi Niaraki said.

Noting that the annual demand for automobiles is about 1.5 million in the country, the official noted: “Production of one million vehicles is forecast for the current year, and we expect a growth of about 50 percent for the next year, and automakers are also proposing all kinds of facilities and sale options.”

Meanwhile, Fatemi Amin has 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.

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).

MA/MA