Iran Produces 1/2 Million Motorcycles Annually

The motorcycle industry has reached an annual output of 500,000 units.

In an interview broadcast on state TV, Bahman Ziamoghadam, head of Iran’s Motorcycle Association, said the production rate can be increased to 1 million units per year.

 He also said local production of two-stroke motorbikes has been halted due to excessive fuel consumption and exhaust rate of the models.

He added that despite the growth of the industry in the country, motorcycle riders continue to flout the traffic laws and violate the rules of riding.

Imported motorcycles have a meager share of less than 1% in the market. Iran imports motorbikes from Malaysia, China and India among other countries.

According to Ziamoghadam, imported motorbikes enter in the form of ‘completely knocked-down units’ and are assembled by local firms.

Locally produced motorbikes are required to pass a 27-item quality test; 25 of the checks are determined by Iran Standard and Quality Inspection Company and the remaining two by the Department of Environment.  

Motorcycles in Iran can cost from 30 million rials (€750) for a low-cost 2-stroke Honda-based design called ‘cg125’ and ‘cdi 125’ to anywhere up to 1.35 billion rials (€33,750) for an Honda CBR 1000RR bike.  

Motorcycle manufacturers and importers include firms like Mahd-e-Mina and Alpha Khodro. Other brands represented in the country are Bajaj, Honda, Kawasaki, and Apache.