Volvos, Loans Offered to Iranian Truckers

Transportation officials in Tehran have made a long-awaited  agreement related to renovation of the industrial transport fleet.

A contract was signed earlier this week between Iran’s Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization (RMTO), Iran Fuel Conservation Company (IFCO), Tose’e Ta’avon Bank and commercial vehicle producer SAIPA Diesel giving the automaker permission to replace old trucks with new Volvos, IRIB reported.

With the new agreement SAIPA Diesel is set to assemble 3,500 units of Volvo FH Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) in  the current fiscal (ends in March 2018), and 5,000 units a year later. Rasul Mohammad Sadeqi, SAIPA Diesel CEO, said that during the first phase of the new production cycle, 600 trucks older than 35 years will be replaced with new Volvos.

He said the new trucks use 25% less diesel. With the new trucks air pollution by heavy trucks will be cut by 75%.

According to Sadeqi, SAIPA will give a loan of 2.5 billion rials ($66,670) for each Volvo FH, currently priced at 4.2-4.8 billion rials ($112,000 to $128,000) in Iran.

Davoud Keshavarzian, the director of RMTO, said at the signing ceremony that the Oil Ministry will pay $2.7 million for the renovation of 65,000 old trucks.

A part of the loan will be made available by the Fuel Conservation Fund, and 15% will be covered by the ministry and SAIPA Diesel.

“Truckers borrowing money will pay 9% interest on the 2.5- -billion- rial loans.”

In January, independent truck manufacturer and Volswagen representative Mammut Group, signed a trilateral agreement with the RMTO to replace 5,000 old trucks with new Scania models. According to the World Health Organization, 26.2% of air pollution comes from old vehicles, a majority of them being diesel trucks.