The prices of Iranian and assembled vehicles in the domestic market have declined, following car imports and an increase in car supply.
Their prices registered an 8-15% decrease since the beginning of the second month of the current fiscal year (April 21), the head of Tehran’s Car Showrooms Union said on May 7.
“The main reason behind the decline in prices is the higher supply of cars by domestic automakers. With the first shipment of imported cars after about five years, the import taboo was broken and this also helped reduce prices,” Saeed Motemani was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
He added that government officials have come to the conclusion that car imports are necessary to reduce inflation in the automotive market.
“Nevertheless, despite the decline in car prices, there are no buyers and the domestic automotive market is still in a recession. Buyers have stopped buying because they feel that the import will further bring down prices,” he said.
“The price of Dena Turbocharge [with automatic transmission] has decreased from 11 billion rials [$20,954] to 9.3 billion rials [$17,715] and the price of Peugeot 207 [with manual transmission and glass roof] declined from 9.3 billion rials [$17,715] to 7.55 billion rials [$14,382].”
The official also announced that the prices of assembled cars have fallen by 2-4 billion rials ($3,809-$7,619) in the last two weeks.
“For instance, the price of MVM TIGGO 8 Promax, which stood at 40 billion rials [$76,197] until 20 days ago, hit 36 billion rials [$68,577]. The products of Bahman Group and Kerman Motor have experienced a 10-12% price decline,” he said.
Motemani stated that with the announcement of prices by the National Competition Council for some assembled cars, the market will witness a further decline in prices.
The council recently announced that the competitiveness index showed none of the assembled cars has a cost-effective price and they are placed in G and F groups, so the producers of these vehicles should lower the production cost of their cars. It has published a list of “competitive prices” for the assembled cars.
SAIPA Imports First Car Shipment
SAIPA Automotive Group has imported its first shipment of cars that will be delivered to customers in the coming weeks.
The domestic automaker imported a total of 1,108 cars produced by Changan Automotive Company, according to the manager of the Car Import Project of the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade.
“With the efforts of the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade and related organizations, SAIPA imported its first series of imported cars after five years, which have been cleared from the Aprin Customs Office,” Mehdi Zeighami was also quoted as saying by Khabar Khodro.com (a website that covers automobile news).
The official stated that due to the problems caused by the car import laws that were devised before the reimposition of international sanctions, the clearance of imported cars faced many hurdles.
“With the cooperation and support of related organizations, we were finally able to clear the first series of imported cars and this will definitely speed up the import and clearance process of the next series,” he said.
“In the coming days, the final price of imported cars will be announced by the Consumers and Producers Protection Organization and the process of car delivery will begin.”
Zeighami noted that the cars were sold through the national online car registration portal.
He also announced that another batch of 1,500 foreign cars are in the process of receiving customs clearance permits and standard approvals.
“These cars are of Fiat, Zotye, Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi brands, which will be released gradually,” he said.
Koroush Kamankesh, the deputy head of the SAIPA Purchase Department, said 1,108 Changan CS35 Plus cars as well as 125 Changan CS55 Plus models will be delivered next month, according to the lottery result and prioritization announced by the Industries Ministry.
“Changan cars entering the country belong to CS15 Plus, CS35 Plus, CS55 Plus, CS75 Plus, UNI-K, UNI-T and Hunter pickup models,” he said.
“By the end of the current [fiscal] year [March 20, 2024, 100,000 Changan cars [CS35 Plus, CS55 Plus and UNI-K models] will enter the country to help regulate the domestic market.”
