Iran Ranks 20th in 2016 Q2 Auto Production

The International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers recently released data on the number of vehicles produced in over 40 countries.  

The Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles, commonly abbreviated as OICA, is a federation of automobile manufacturers, founded in 1919 and based in Paris. It coordinates communication among manufacturers, as well as a number of international auto shows.

The vehicle production statistics released by the OICA website show that in the second quarter of 2016, Iran produced 562,374 vehicles to rank as the 20th largest carmaker among the countries surveyed.

Of this number, 515,499 units made in Iran were passenger cars while the remaining 46,875 were commercial vehicles, including large goods vehicles and heavy goods vehicles.

The data indicate that production increased by 1.2% in Iran during the second quarter, confirming reports from local manufacturers.

Put together, all the countries surveyed manufactured a total of 46,509,693 units; 35,017,421 units of which were passenger cars and 11,492,272 commercial vehicles. 

The statistics show that the top three auto manufacturing countries in the period were China, USA and Japan, each producing 12,892,154, 6,255,476 and 4,494,583 units respectively.

This is while auto production dropped in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Thailand, Mexico, and Russia to name a few.

Interestingly, the Netherlands, like last year, did not produce any vehicles during this period.  

Prospects

The report also follows the positive report published by Automotive World that looks at the prospects for the new vehicle market in Iran in the period to 2020.

Light vehicle demand in Iran is expected to rise by almost 9% in 2016, taking the market to over 1.3 million units, while the heavy goods vehicle sector is expected to grow at almost 20%.

The report outlines the potential of Iran’s new vehicle market to grow throughout the period to 2020, by which time both sectors will have exceeded their 2011 market peak.

Report author, Jonathan Storey, commented that “this report is focused on vehicle demand, with Iran having the potential to become one of the world’s Top-10 auto markets by 2020”.

Storey noted that there is an interesting story to tell on the supply side, with the Iranian government having the understandable ambition of developing a modern industrial base. Such an ambition needs to be tempered with realism about its ability to compete with global players, especially as its protective tariffs come under pressure.

“There are plenty of examples from around the world of countries working with the global OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to build a competitive automotive sector. Iran would do well to follow those examples rather than pursue a policy of supporting ‘national champions’,” he said.