SAIPA Pride Leads Sales, But for How Long?

The latest statistics released about the sale of different passenger cars in Iran show that SAIPA’s Pride and Iran Khodro Company’s Peugeot 405 have had the largest market share in the first seven months of the current Iranian year (started March 20).

The newly released data, published by Financial Tribune’s sister publication Donya-e-Eqtesad from a reliable but unnamed source, show that SAIPA’s Pride was the top vehicle in terms of sales during this period.

The car had the broadest market share in both the number of units produced and market value.

Peugeot’s 25-year-old model 405 ranked second in terms of units manufactured, but grabbed the third largest market share concerning value.

The third most prolific model was IKCO’s Peugeot 206 followed by other IKCO models, namely Peugeot Pars and Samand. These models were trailed by SAIPA’s small hatchback Tiba.

According to the report, locally made cars have an 86% share of the domestic market while imported vehicles account for 4.4%.

Despite the slim share of imported cars in Iran’s car market, Hyundai’s Santa Fe had a significant portion of the market regarding the value of foreign produced models.

 End of the Road?

While Pride and Peugeot 405 hold the largest market share, there have been speculations about stopping the manufacture of the two models by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2017).

According to the local automotive website Asre Khodro, the phaseout of old vehicles has recently become a major grievance.

SAIPA’s CEO Mehdi Jamali earlier stated that as long as there is demand for the antiquated Pride, SAIPA will continue to manufacture the model.

However, despite the CEO’s comments, other officials are making efforts to get rid of the old models. Long-term projects predict that SAIPA and IKCO, who are not beholden to government rules, will continue to produce the models until they see fit.

Vahid Marandi-Moqaddam, a deputy at Iran’s National Standards Organization, said last week that no matter how long a vehicle is being produced, the standards organization will not ban its production as long as it manages to pass the safety checks and comply with the current standards.

According to the official, the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade and the Automotive Policymaking Council have ratified car longevity as the primary criterion for determining whether the production of a car should end, which should be monitored by the ministry.

Marandi-Moqaddam added that the standards organization assesses cars based on a set of standards and rules, and declares whether a car should be produced.

“If the new standards are introduced, the production of cars may come to an end. A car might yet comply with all the safety, operation and fuel-efficiency standards and in such a case, the standards organization will allow its production to continue,” he said.

In other words, the carmakers are not obliged to upgrade their models currently, as they meet the standards. The official added that the organization is preparing stricter standards for vehicle production, which will soon be communicated to manufacturers and, in theory, should stop the production of these vehicles.

Marandi-Moqaddam noted that some of the old models will not be able to meet the new standards, but if they manage to introduce upgrades and revamp the models to meet the new standards, they can obtain production permits, “otherwise, their production will stop.”

“What is certain,” he said, “is that the new standards to be introduced aim to improve vehicle quality.”