Electric Tiba in Testing Phase

SAIPA is set to unveil its new Tiba with a locally-designed electric-only engine, said Mehdi Jamali, the company CEO.

“The electric Tiba has been designed and sent overseas for tests,” local auto website Khodro Nevis reported this week.

Jamali was brief on specifications of the electric vehicle, saying only that it will “be the first locally developed electric car in Iran.”

Tiba, released five years ago, is the second cheapest car produced by the firm after the 1980s Pride model. Rumors have it that it will  substitute the older model soon.

Jamali gave assurances that the Pride would “not be produced for much longer”, however, he  said because many Iranian families have small budgets an appropriate low-cost vehicle needs to replace it before production (of Pride) stops.

Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the Industry Minister, said earlier this week that the production of Pride will end by the next fiscal year (March 2019).

Referring to the growth in SAIPA’s products from 13 models to 23 within two years, Jamali said the company plans to produce three new models on the SP100, SP0 and electric platform in the upcoming months.

SAIPA has unveiled its so-called “national three-cylinder engine” claiming that the engine meets Euro-6 pollution standards.

Euro-6 engine appears to be of the same design as Citroen engines. SAIPA entered into an agreement with Citroen earlier this year.