SAIPA Automotive Group and Bank Saderat Iran have signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) in Tehran for producing new car models and increasing employment.
At a meeting attended by the senior managers of Iran’s largest bank and industrial complex, SAIPA’s CEO Mohammad Ali Teymouri said Bank Saderat Iran is one of the top five banks of Iran and SAIPA needs liquidity to fulfill its export plans and produce new models in the current and next fiscal years, Donyaye Khodro reported.
“The bank will provide the needed liquidity to SAIPA soon in the form of an MOC,” he added.
Referring to SAIPA’s financial performance, Teymouri said that in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (March 21-Nov. 21), more than 600 trillion rials ($1.65 billion) have been generated through the sale of SAIPA’s vehicles compared with 320 trillion rials ($882.51 million) earned in last year’s corresponding period.
“This is despite the fact that popular models such as Tiba, Tiba 2 and Saina were removed from SAIPA's production lines at the beginning of the year. Also, we did not increase the price of other vehicles compared to last year,” he explained.
Zia Imani, the CEO of BSI, stated that by signing this deal, the bank wants to help boost the country's production, employment and industry.
The CEO of SAIPA noted that parts manufacturing companies, affiliated with SAIPA, have made special efforts to recruit new workers during the period under review.
“Therefore, the main goal of all sectors, including the banking and industry sectors, is to lift production that will expand workforce," he said.
Teymouri noted that more than 320,000 cars have been delivered to customers during the eight months and 42,000 vehicles are undergoing the sale process, which is an unprecedented growth compared to 392,000 vehicles delivered in the last fiscal year.
"In view of the arrangements, daily production is more than 2,000 vehicles and all the models are manufactured domestically. More than 90% of them are supplied by the domestic supply chain. This is while in the past, this production volume was achieved by including completely-knocked down [CK]) cars,” he added.
The SAIPA chief said daily production will reach 2,500 units in the fiscal 2023-24 with the launch of the 16-valve engine line.
“We will assemble and launch new and updated cars from Changan as CKD, for which an order has been registered and it’s work in progress," he said.
"For the first time, we are planning to release eight new models from the current fiscal year’s 11th month (Jan. 21-Feb. 19, 2023). Atlas and Sahand cars are in the final stages and will enter the market soon.”
Domestic Firms to Produce Economy Cars
SAIPA Automotive Group has signed a memorandum of understanding for the production of economy cars with the Association of Homogeneous Propulsion Industries and Component Manufacturers on the first day of the 17th International Exhibition of Automotive Parts, Accessories and Assemblies.
More than 600 domestic and foreign companies, including 45 knowledge-based companies, 500 domestic producers and 55 foreign companies from China, Germany, Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands, the UAE, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia participated in the exhibition that ran from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3, Donyaye Khodro reported.
Abdollah Tavakkoli Lahijani, director general of Industries Ministry, Teymouri and Arash Mohebbinejad and Mehdi Matlabzadeh of the association attended the signing ceremony.
The two sides have agreed to produce an economy car in the form of a consortium consisting of selected domestic parts makers, component suppliers, designer and distributors.
After the Industries Ministry set the ceiling of $20,000 as the price of foreign cars permitted under the new $1-billion import scheme, domestic automakers are rushing to cash in.
As per the memorandum, Renault’s now-abandoned KWID platform is expected to be used for the production of these economy cars.
This type of collaboration between a car manufacturer and a component manufacturer is the first of its kind in Iran aimed at ensuring the steady supply of parts and the payment of partnership share to the two entities.
The deal has set an initial turnover of 200,000 economy cars.
“This memorandum is related to the production of economy cars, which was prepared by considering the gap in economy cars and the low purchasing power of people,” Mohebbinejad, secretary of the association, said.
“After stopping the production of cars such as Pride and Tiba, which had low factory sales prices, the production of a modern, economy car was included in the plan for the transformation of the automotive industry.”
Noting that the association will be involved in all the project stages from the beginning, including design and supply, Mohebbinejad stressed that everyone's interests should be seen as a “win-win”.
