For those on limited budgets, buying a car can be a difficult task. As inflation has ramped up over the past few years, many in Iran have been priced out of the automotive market.
Knowing this, carmakers continue to price a few of their vehicles as "low-cost" models.
Asre Khodro, an automotive website, has created a small breakdown of "under 300-million-rial" ($8,810 at market exchange rate) micro, small and medium cars for the average buyer. What is interesting about this new chart is the presence of only one Chinese model in this price range and the complete absence of Renault.
The cheapest car available in Iran remains the Saipa 141 hatchback model, currently selling for 173 million rials ($5,080). This is followed by Saipa 111 variant, which is a smaller version with a smaller trunk. Next up is the Saipa Pride 132 full sedan model at 200 million ($5,873) with the 131 SE–practically the same car–coming at 210 million rial ($6,167). The pickup variant of the Pride—the 151—comes in at a paltry 165 million rial ($4,845) making it one of the cheapest utility vehicles in the country.
Internationally, the credit for the cheapest vehicle goes to Tata's Nano at $2000, not currently available in Iran.
Of the same micro-car size group, the Chinese locally built MVM 110 (Daewoo Matiz clone) comes in at 220 million rials ($6,461) just at the top end of the pride.
Small cars below 300 million rials are again in Saipa's court with the Tiba sedan and Tiba hatchback coming in at 230 million ($6,754) and 260 million ($7,635) respectively.
Iran Khodro's first sub-300-million-rial car is the locally developed Samand SE model priced at 274 million rials ($8,046). This is followed by the EF7 (modern engine) model at 293 million rials ($7,723). Peugeot's 405 GLX model also comes in at 278 million rials ($8,164).
