SAIPA Team Goes to Lebanon

An industrial delegation headed by SAIPA visited Lebanon last week to look at business opportunities.

During the trip, SAIPA’s CEO Mehdi Jamali said he was looking at setting up an official representation in Lebanon and some African nations via Lebanese business groups, IRNA reported.

According to Jamali, talks held with Lebanese banks were productive.

“Most cars sold in Lebanon are leased, which is why it was necessary for us to negotiate with Lebanese banks,” he explained.

The delegation also met with Lebanon’s Minister of Industry Hussein Hajj Hassan who said, “We support cooperation that will lead to investment, create jobs and a competitive business environment.”  

Jamali noted that if regional feasibility studies yield good results, chances are high that SAIPA will set up a production line in Lebanon.

In the end, Jamali invited the Lebanese minister to visit SAIPA in Iran.

  Other Plans

Jamali noted that talks with Renault, Changan and Kia are ongoing and will soon be resolved.

The SAIPA chief said customer surveys have shown that both Iranian and foreign customers prefer cars with automatic transmissions and his company would focus on this area.

“We predict that the first automatic cars produced by SAIPA will be available on the market by March 2017,” he said.  

The CEO further said the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the West has “alleviated many export problems that we used to face”.

“We could not count on bank loans in Lebanon before the deal, which option is now available,” he said.

Jamali explained that in the past, Iran would mostly export cars to regional countries such as Syria and Iraq that are currently combating terrorist groups.

“We hope to see these issues resolved so that Iran can regain its share of foreign markets.”