Iran Khodro Industrial Group’s (IKCO) passenger vehicle production reached 301,700 from March 21 to Oct. 4 and set a record, as it was 100,000 units higher than that of the corresponding period of last year.
Of this volume, IKCO has delivered more than 297,500 passenger vehicles to customers.
Iran's leading car manufacturer, which has announced achievements in the fields of production and quality improvement in recent months, aims to produce 750,000 passenger and commercial vehicles in the current fiscal year (ending March 2023), Donyaye Khodro reported.
Iran Khodro Diesel, the largest producer of heavy and semi-heavy commercial vehicles in Iran, has accounted for 25,000 units by Oct. 4 in IKCO’s production plan.
According to the company’s plans, Iran Khodro Khorasan Company will boost output to 40,000 SUVs by adding new models and increasing production capacity by March 2023.
The company had earlier stated that by halting the production of two models, Peugeot 405 and Samand, and replacing them with new and upgraded products, it has taken important steps for improving the quality of vehicles.
Accordingly, Samand was replaced with the Soren model in IKCO’s production line in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan Province, which reached a daily turnover of 400 units.
According to the company, the employees of Iran Khodro and its supply chain are determined to accelerate production in the current Iranian year’s second half (started Sept. 23) and meet the domestic market demand.
IKCO has announced a significant reduction in the number of visits by customers to its after-sales service outlets.
“By defining and implementing 279 projects, Iran Khodro pursues the improvement of product quality to register a good performance in various fields of production, quality, development and after-sales services by the end of the fiscal 2022-23,” said Mahmoud Mehregan, Iran Khodro’s quality planning and evaluation manager.
Auto Reform Plan Lacks Teeth
An expert reviewed the Industries, Mining and Trade Ministry’s document on the domestic automotive industry’s reform strategies and said a lack of a clear executive plan is its main flaw.
“The production of 1.6 million cars, car price reduction, the rise in the production of all types of cars, completing cars with parts deficit, paying attention to the purchasing power of customers and improving the quality of domestic cars are positive goals mentioned in the document on the transformation of the car industry,” Mohsen Razmkhah was also quoted as saying by Khabar Khodro.
The document was presented at the Transformation of Automotive Industry Exhibition held at Tehran’s International Fairground on Aug. 25-28.
“To achieve the above-mentioned goals, the Industries Ministry has adopted strategies for importing technology and incorporating innovation in car design and manufacture, reforming the structure of car value chain, creating synergy among car manufacturers and suppliers, prioritizing the joint investment of foreign automobile manufacturers, reforming the financial structure of car companies, financing the supply chain of the automobile industry and helping large component producers,” he added.
Referring to ambiguities in the automotive reform document, he said strategies defined by the Industries Ministry lack a clear executive plan because no specific source of capital, schedule and executive authority have been determined for their realization.
“For example, the production of 3 million cars by fiscal 2025-26 is not possible, because most people cannot afford to buy cars worth over 2 billion rials [$6,323], while a majority of domestic cars are priced higher than this figure,” he added.
The automotive expert stressed that increasing car exports is one of the other goals set in the document without paying attention to the country's international and political relations.
“Because if the sanctions are not lifted, measures such as the purchase of knowhow, creating design and innovation capabilities in car manufacturing and buying advanced production machinery in the car and parts manufacturing will have to be ruled out, as export cars will become unlikely,” he added.
Razmkhah noted that even though bank facilities are the best way to finance car manufacture and supply chain, and reduce production costs, the role of the banking system in production has been neglected.
“To achieve its desired goals, the automobile industry needs to purchase technical knowhow and import technology, and the component industry needs to purchase advanced machinery to produce high-quality products, which unfortunately has not been considered in the automobile transformation document,” he said.
