Iran Standards and Quality Inspection Company has released a report on the quality of domestically-produced cars surveyed during the Iranian month ending Nov. 20.
ISQI is a private firm working on contract with the Industries Ministry.
The vehicles are classed from one to a maximum of five stars.
According to ISQI data, none of the cars made by major Iranian automakers, Iran Khodro (IKCO) and SAIPA, received more than four stars.
The cars are classified in five price ranges, from the cheapest costing 870 million rials ($3,372) to the most expensive costing above 2 billion rials ($7,750).
The company quotes the vehicles’ factory price, while the vehicles are sold in the open market at much higher prices.
Four-Star Victors
As per the new report, three IKCO cars, including Haima S7, Dena Plus and Peugeot 207, gained four stars.
The production of Haima S7 began in 2015 with 40% of the Chinese SUV’s parts manufactured locally.
The S7 is available with both manual and automatic transmission options and has a 2-liter engine.
The launch of Dena was announced in April 2011. However, due to sanctions inflicted on Iran Khodro and the pullout of its partner PSA Peugeot-Citroen in 2012, the project was mothballed due to lack of parts and finance.
Mass production of the sedan did not begin until 2013, when criticism of IKCO over delays in marketing the car mounted. The vehicle only arrived on Iranian streets in autumn 2014 in the low thousands. The company price for Dena is 1.6 billion rials ($6,200).
The Peugeot 207 model has almost the same exterior design as the popular Peugeot 206 with slight modifications. Offered with automatic and manual gearboxes, it is sold for 1.5 and 2 billion rials ($5,810 and $7,750).
Three-Star Winners
As per the charts, most car models managed to win three stars. In the top price range (the most expensive), Cherry’s Tiggo 7, a Chinese SUV assembled by Modiran Khodro tops the list. The model is provided at 2 billion rials ($7,750) by the company.
Kerman Motor’s assembled JAC S5 — a Chinese crossover — and its “little brother” JAC S3, along with Safe Khodro’s SWM G01 earned three stars in the second price range.
Iran Khodro’s Peugeot 206, Rana and Peugeot Pars — a facelift of Peugeot 405 with automatic gearbox — also hold three stars in the third price group.
All models produced by IKCO’s rival company, SAIPA, earned three stars in the quality assessment. The models include Quick, Tiba, Tiba 2 and Saina, all in the fourth price group.
Two-Stars
Based on the ISQI data, Modiran Khodro’s MVM X33s and Iran Khodro’s Peugeot 405 earned a two-star ranking.
Unveiled in 2016 in Iran, MVM X33s is a local variant of China’s Chery Tiggo 3.
The model is equipped with Chamonix 7-speed CVT auto transmission.
Iran Khodro’s Peugeot 405, which is now being phased out of the production line, suffers from several safety failures, never earning more than two stars in the ISQI ranking.
The model is a large family car released by the French automaker Peugeot in July 1987, which continues to be manufactured under license outside France, as it was discontinued in Europe in 1997.
Iran Khodro started the production of the car in the mid-1990s. The company also produced several models derived from the 405. Peugeot Pars, also known as Peugeot Persia, is a facelifted 405 version with a redesigned front end, including clear lamp lenses and a revamped rear.
Samand, which was designed to be “the national car” of Iran, is also based on the 405 platform.
Arisun is another IKCO model heavily based on the 405 model. It is a coupe utility car under production since 2015.
Road Killer
SAIPA’s small city car, Pride, which has been produced in Iran for decades, never earned more than one star in ISQI’s rankings.
Because of its serious safety failures and quality issues, the production of some versions of Pride was ceased in June. The production of other versions is continuing, but the car remains distinguished by its ultra-low quality.
Pride was originally developed for Japanese and South Korean markets in the late 1980s. The car was widely sold in the United States as a Ford Festiva in the early 1990s. It entered the Iranian market in 1993 under license from Kia and has continued to be a cash cow for SAIPA.
Three years ago, the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran and Iran’s Automotive Policymaking Council set new automotive standards and gave a two-year ultimatum to automakers to comply.
The production of vehicles that cannot meet 83 automotive standards was expected to be halted by the end of 2018. SAIPA’s Pride topped the elimination list.
A recent study conducted on Iranian road accidents recorded over the past decade showed that the road killer was involved in one-third of the fatalities.
Road crashes claimed 206,049 lives in the 11 years ending March 2019, data from Iranian Legal Medicine Organization show.
Based on the research findings, up to 34% of the figure, constituting 70,056 victims died in a Pride car.
“Drivers’ adherence to traffic regulations is of the highest importance in terms of driving safety, but a vehicle’s quality also matters. Pride lacks the required standards of a regular passenger car and leads to an average of 3.8 deaths in each crash,” the National Traffic Police Chief General Kamal Hadianfar earlier told the media.
