The daily production of Iran Khodro Company (IKCO) exceeded 3,000 vehicles in the third month of the current fiscal year (May 22-June 21).
IKCO’s monthly production stood at 60,783 units during the period, which is a record compared with the same month of the past five years.
The automaker’s production grew 66% to reach 147,023 in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (March 21-June 21), of which 145,168 belonged to passenger cars and 1,855 were heavy and semi-heavy commercial vehicles, Donyaye Khodro reported.
IKCO managed to stop the production of incomplete vehicles from May 22 and 60,783 complete passenger vehicles entered the market during the month, registering a 68% growth compared with the corresponding period of last year.
In the first quarter, 131,358 invoices were issued, which shows a growth of 48% compared with the same quarter of the previous year. Car delivery to customers grew by 19% to 130,788 during the period.
Although the total production of passenger cars in the third month of the current year matched that of the same month in the fiscal 2011-12 and 2017-18, but in those years, contrary to the current situation, the global and Iranian car industries did not face problems such as lack of chipsets and high-tech parts.
The global chip crisis, which caused a shortage of electronics and high-tech components in the automotive industry with the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, also shut down many production lines in Western countries.
While the extent of this problem has been curbed in recent months, its consequences linger in the domestic automotive industry.
Nevertheless, Iran Khodro Industrial Group has succeeded in increasing production by 68% during May 22-June 21 year-on-year.
Mehdi Khatibi, the CEO of Iran Khodro Industrial Group, said, "Achieving the production of 750,000 units this year, compared to the production of 450,000 vehicles last year, will lead to a growth of over 60% and savings of at least 70 trillion rials [$219.44 million]."
Referring to quality improvement as one of the main goals of Iran Khodro, Khatibi noted that 279 quality projects have been planned in the production chain.
“Since the beginning of this year, there has been a growth of at least 40% in the quality of products," he said.
Automakers Ordered to Submit Quality Improvement Roadmap
Lawmakers have ordered Iran’s two major auto producers to submit roadmaps for enhancing the quality of their vehicles.
SAIPA Automotive Group and Iran Khodro were given 72 hours to submit a roadmap to the parliament, in which they should outline plans for improving customers' satisfaction, as well as the quality and security of vehicles, the Majlis news outlet reported.
Rouhollah Nejabat, a lawmaker, referred to the direct impact of domestic vehicles on the high number of road casualties and said lawmakers made the above decision during a meeting with representatives of Traffic Police, roads and industries ministries, IKCO, SAIPA and the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran.
Ezzatollah Akbari, another lawmaker, called on the government to prepare the grounds for the entry of private producers and foreign companies in the automotive industry, as it would help improve the industry's competitiveness.
He also criticized carmakers for their irresponsibility and said they must fulfill the commitments made in contracts that must uphold the interests of both sides.
Hojjatollah Firouzi, another lawmaker, said the import of new cars could be a useful method for compelling domestic producers to improve their performance.
"The presence of foreign cars in the market would help reduce prices and force domestic producers to improve the quality of their products," he said.
The measure follows widespread public complaints about the poor quality of domestically-produced cars.
The previous government had imposed a ban on car imports to prevent the outflow of foreign currency made scarce by US sanctions and lower oil sales in the fiscal 2018-19. However, the incumbent government has placed the import of 70,000 cars on next year’s agenda.
IKCO and the second major automaker SAIPA enjoy a near monopoly in the domestic market and so far, car imports remain banned.
Iran's total auto output in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2022), stood at 963,179, down 2.9% year-on-year. IKCO posted a 6.7% decline in output last year, whereas the decline was 5.5% for SAIPA.
One person dies in a road accident every half hour in Iran, taking the annual death toll to 17,000, the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization announced.
The organization also said close to 30,000 people are annually embroiled in accidents.
According to Majlis Research Center, the cost of road crashes amounts to 8% of Iran’s gross domestic product.
In the years ending March 2012 and March 2017, car collisions cost the economy 519 trillion rials ($2.1 billion) and 535 trillion rials ($2.17 billion) respectively.
