Iran Full Year 2017: Peugeot #1, Saipa Pride threatened by Tiba/Saina, Chinese brands hold 15% of local production

The Saipa Pride remains the best-selling vehicle in Iran for 2017…

* See the Top 10 local brands, cars, pickups and imports by clicking on the title *

Consult 50 years of Iran Historical Data here

Thanks to our partnership with CE Auto we can share with you today exclusive production and imports figures for Iran over the Full Year 2017. After gaining a robust 28% in 2016, Iranian light vehicle production continue on their dynamic recovery with a further 21% improvement in 2017 to 1.489.699 units, including 1.415.063 passenger cars (+23%) and 74.636 pickups (-8%). An estimated 95% to 98% of the local production is sold in Iran, meaning the production rankings give a very close picture of what the best-sellers in the country are. Imports are also very healthy at +39% to 80.254 this year, with a total Iranian new car registrations estimated at 1.532.700, up 22% on the 1.254.500 of 2016. Note the 2017 calendar year roughly corresponds to the period Dey 1395 to Azar 1396 with the 1396 Persian year starting on 21 March 2017 and ending on 20 March 2018.

…but the Saipa Tiba/Saina is #1 in December.

Brand-wise, Peugeot remains the most popular brand in the country, improving its production faster than the industry at +33% to over 445.000 units. However local manufacturer Saipa advances even faster at +45% to just under 420.000 units. Far below is Iran Khodro up 25% to 165.000 units, now seriously threatened by Renault more than doubling its production vs. 2016 at +104% to 160.000 units. Renault overtook Iran Khodro in September and December, and 19.000 imports (see further down) actually place Renault above Iran Khodro in the 2017 registrations ranking. In 5th place is Chery, up 75% to just under 70.000 locally produced units, illustrating one of the big events in Iran for 2017.

Chery is the best-selling of 15 Chinese brands produced in Iran. 

Whereas local production of Chinese brands represented 7.8% of the total Iranian light vehicle production in 2016 (96.015 units), it surges 127% in 2017 to 218.230 or 14.6% of the total production, even holding a 15.4% share in December. There are now 15 Chinese brands being produced in Iran vs. 4 Iranian, 2 French, 2 Japanese and 2 Korean. Below Chery is Brilliance up 83% to just under 40.000 units, Dongfeng up 11-fold to 33.000 units and JAC up 124% to 31.000 units. Changan (+432%), Haima (+408%), Lifan (-5%) and Zotye (+225%) are also in the Top 15.

Peugeot is the best-selling brand in Iran in 2017.

Renault is the #3 best-selling carmaker and #1 importer in Iran this year.

The 30 year-old Saipa Pride remains the best-selling nameplate in Iran but drops 5% year-on-year to fall below 240.000 units. The Peugeot 206 climbs one spot and 23% despite celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, but the hero atop the ranking is the Saipa Tiba/Saina, a combination of two different sedans also available as hatch variants (the Saina hatch, baptised Quick, is the most recent). Production is up 67% to 164.000 and even frankly surpassed the Pride in December at 20.400 vs. 17.900. The Peugeot 405 (-0.4%) and its higher-end variant the Pars (-1%) which date back to 1987, add up to 268.000 units and can be considered the best-selling car in Iran. The Iran Khodro Samand (+10%) and Renault Tondar 90 aka Dacia Logan (+31%) also post six-digit production figures for 2017, followed by the Renault Sandero (+103%).

The Dongfeng S30 is the most produced Chinese vehicle in Iran…

…ahead of the Brilliance H330

…and the JAC S5.

The main reason Chinese manufacturers have managed to carve themselves no less than 15% of the Iranian market in the space of a couple of years is that they do produce up-to-date nameplates here, and not completely obsolete 20 to 30-year-old vehicles. The Dongfeng Fengshen S30 is the most popular this year at #10 and 29.000 units, up 6-fold on 2016, bumping the Brilliance H330 (27.000) down to #11. The JAC S5 is up 65% to 25.000, the Chery Fulwin 2 up 22% to 16.000 and the Chery Tiggo 3X is the best-selling newcomer in Iran this year, landing directly at #15 with 16.000 units but already in the September Top 10. At least 10.000 units of the Chery Tiggo 5, Tiggo 3, Changan CS35, Brilliance H320 and Haima S7 have also been produced in Iran this year.

Bahman Cara 

In the pickup aisle, the Zamyad Z24, a 48 year-old Nissan Junior, continues to reign with production up 3% on 2016 to 28.000 units, followed by the pickup variant of the Saipa Pride, the 151, up 6% to 17.500 and the Bahman Cara up 284% while the Iran Khodro Arisun, based on the Peugeot 405 and launched two years ago to replace the segment’s best-seller for decades, the Bardo, fails miserably with production down 65% on 2016 to just 7.300 units. The Dongfeng Rich is up 126% to 5th place above the Renault Tondar Pickup aka Dacia Logan pickup, new for 2017 and totalling 3.300 units produced. The Foton Tunland (954 units) and ZX Auto Admiral (839) are also produced in Iran.

The Hyundai Santa Fe and Tucson dominate Iranian imports.

The Ssangyong Tivoli ranks #3

In an imports market shooting up 39% to 80.254 units, 2017 is the year of Renault, up 351% on 2016 and lifting from #4 to #1 importer with just under 19.000 units this year. The French manufacturer places the Captur at #4, the Talisman at #6, the Duster at #7, the Symbol at #9 and the Koleos at #16. Hyundai follows with sales up 50% to 18.000 and the Santa Fe remaining the best-selling import in Iran for the third year in a row despite deliveries down 26% to 6.500, now followed by the Tucson up 154% to 6.100. Kia (+16%) comes in third like in 2016 ahead of Toyota (-6%) and Nissan up 60-fold thanks to the Juke (#11) and X-Trail (#15). The Ssangyong Tivoli (+80%) holds onto the third place while the Lexus NX (+51%) rounds up the Top 5

Previous post: Iran September 2017: Exclusive production and imports data available

Previous year: Iran Full Year 2016: Saipa Pride & Peugeot 405 lead, Brilliance H330 in Top 10

Two years ago: Iran Full Year 2015: Exclusive production and imports figures available

Full Year 2017 Top 10 brands, models, pickups and imports vs. Full Year 2016 figures below.

Full December Top 10 brands, models and pickups below