Iran’s major automaker SAIPA plans to increase production by 12% by March 2022 by introducing brand new models in its product lineup.
Early this week, the company announced that it plans to produce 50,000 Shahin, 15,000 Aria, 20,000 Atlas, 147,000 Quick, 100,000 Tiba and 79,000 Saina models this year, Saipanews.com reported.
From among these sedans, Atlas and Aria are newly designed models unveiled in February.
Atlas is a facelifted version of the Ford Fiesta that is built on the Tiba X200 chassis. It has a 1,497cc turbocharged engine that produces 110 horsepower and 165 nm torque.
Aria, the second new vehicle, is Iran's first crossover, built on the Toyota B-platform and shares design cues with the company's Brilliance H220 model.
Aria's one-liter I3 turbo engine is a derivative of Pride's engine, which was first created by Ford and Mazda in the 1980s. The vehicle will be offered with both manual and automatic transmissions.
The company is also planning to produce 3,000 heavy-duty and 40,000 light-duty vehicles as well as 25,000 SAIPA 151 pickup trucks.
SAIPA claims that efforts made in line with the country's policy of boosting production have expanded its product lineup from four models in 2018 to nine sedans today.
President Ebrahim Raeisi's pick to head the Industries Ministry, Reza Fatemi Amin, told reporters that Iran's automotive sector should develop in terms of quality and quantity to avoid financial losses.
“One of the would-be ministry's development plans for the key sector is to increase car manufacturing to 3 million units per year in four years,” he added.
Production Record
In the last fiscal year that ended on March 20, 2021, a total of 900,714 passenger vehicles were produced in Iran, indicating a 4.33% rise year-on-year.
According to data published on the website of Iran Securities and Exchange Organization or Codal.ir, Iran produced 37,451 more cars compared to the year before.
Iran Khodro (IKCO), the country’s leading automotive company, produced 480,338 cars, indicating a 21.97% YOY increase. The figure is 86,416 higher than the previous year’s output.
Peugeot models had the lion’s share with 346,575 cars in 11 months. Samand was IKCO’s second most popular model with 55,220 units.
Besides passenger vehicles, IKCO manufactures commercial vehicles, including vans, pickups, trucks and buses. However, during the period under review, IKCO halted the production lines of several models of commercial vehicles.
The firm’s arch-rival SAIPA produced 317,321 vehicles during the year, marking a 12.67% year-on-year decline. The figure was 46,058 higher in the year before.
Tiba and Pride models topped the company’s production chart with 236,939 and 50,413 units respectively.
Pars Khodro, a subsidiary of SAIPA, registered a 2.84% decline, producing 103,055 vehicles. The company produced 106,072 vehicles in the previous year.
Mismanagement and the pressure of US sanctions coupled with the Covid-19 outbreak have derailed Iran’s auto industries.
However, the government stepped in to streamline the sector and cut its reliance on foreign resources. Industry insiders have optimistically set the current year’s auto output goal at 1.25 million cars.
Last year, IKCO and SAIPA forged ties with knowledge-based entities to indigenize auto electronic parts in the hope of improving the quality and quantity of their vehicles and reducing prices.
However, as in previous administrations, automakers who fail to meet their much-touted goals are not held accountable because they are not the sole decision-makers.
SAIPA’s Endeavors
In late November 2020, SAIPA announced that it is implementing 81 projects to localize high-tech auto parts for curbing the sector’s dependency on foreign resources.
Based on the automaker’s website Saipanews.com, these projects have been devised in collaboration with the Defense Ministry, Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and the Iranian Army’s Air Force.
Daryoush Golmohammadi, SAIPA’s deputy for strategic planning, said 28 joint ventures are being implemented along with industrial units affiliated to Defense Ministry.
“So far, seven sophisticated electronic car components have been localized and are ready for mass production,” he said.
Golmohammadi noted that SAIPA is producing 26 high-tech parts with the assistance of IRGC’s Aerospace Force.
“The production of these parts is undergoing trials and will enter the production line, as soon as the prototypes are tested and verified,” he said.
The army’s Air Force is also cooperating with the automaker in 27 other localization projects, which the official said are in the design phase.
The targeted auto parts, which used to be imported, include engine control unit, modulator, injector, airbag, multimedia system, DC engines, electric sensors and digital ammeter.
“With the domestic production of these components, SAIPA can curb capital flight by up to €94 million annually,” Golmohammadi said.
The automaker is also in talks with the Defense Ministry for the joint production of GPS and radar systems for electric vehicles.
