Iran April 2015: Peugeot more than doubles production year-on-year

Peugeot 206 in the Iran-Khodro factory near Tehran.

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Iranian production data is now up for Farvardin, the first month of the year 1394 in the Persian calendar and roughly equivalent to April 2015. Sales and import data is still unavailable for Iran however high import duties prevent significant sales of imported vehicles and this is still a pretty reliable picture of the Iranian market for now. With production up just 22% year-on-year to 14.390 units, the Saipa Pride is once again toppled by the Peugeot Pars/405 couple at 7.644 units (+105%) and 7.174 (+142%) respectively, while the Peugeot 206 delivers an even more impressive 165% year-on-year jump in 4th place overall. Peugeot is now definitely back in business in Iran with its total local production surging 133% on a year ago to 21,379 units.

Happy factory workers at Iran-Khodro Tehran.

And it’s time for an update on the Peugeot situation in Iran, as officially all Peugeot production was halted two years ago in the face of U.S. economic sanctions triggered by the Iranian nuclear program and an alliance between Peugeot and General Motors. Yet production figures for Peugeot models are still alive and kicking. So what happened? Peugeot halted the export of kits and spare parts from its France to Iran in 2013, however Iran-Khodro has been trying to produce all necessary spare parts by itself for the past couple of years, explaining the sustained (and now booming!) production figures. Peugeot has been maintaining that the current Peugeot cars produced in Iran are not produced with their collaboration, this to fulfill its obligations imposed by the economic sanctions.

Peugeot 206 assembly line at the Iran-Khodro factory near Tehran.

Now, given the PSA-GM alliance has been dissolved and economic sanctions against Iran are in the process of being relaxed, Peugeot announced on 1 March 2015 it agreed to resume production of cars with Iran Khodro in Iran. According to Iran Daily and Mehr news agency, Hashem Yekke-Zare, Iran Khodro managing director, said that “Based on the deal with Peugeot, a joint venture will be established with Iran Khordro, and Peugeot will accordingly have to export 30% of the products that are produced in the joint venture, creating a hub for the exports of cars in the Persian Gulf region”. So the 133% jump in Peugeot production this month can still not be attributed to an official resuming of the production just yet. Peugeot is one of Iran Khodro’s oldest partners in Iran and the Peugeot 405, 206 and 207 are or have been supplied to markets such as Azerbaijan, Iraq, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Syria and Afghanistan – all markets rather secretive about new car sales data. The other significant event this month in Iran is the Iran Khodro Dena (1.585 units) seemingly cannibalising the Samand, down 11% or 520 units to 4.169 while the Runna is up 22% to 1.656.

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Full April 2015 / Farvardin 1394 Top 10 models below.