Iran July 2012: Iran Khodro Runna #10 in contracting market

Iran Khodro Runna

* See the Top 15 most produced models by clicking on the title! *

As usual we explore local production figures for the Iranian market as sales data is not available, however this should represent a relatively accurate picture of car sales in the country as high import duties and the weakness of the local currency limits sales of other vehicles. 2012 is shaping up to be a pretty eventful year for car sales in Iran. First Peugeot announced it would be progressively withdrawing from the market, now Saipa halves its production as a reaction to the government’s setting of prices for domestic cars, judged too low in the wake of the sharp devaluation of the Iranian rial vs. the US dollar…

As a result, only 69,797 cars were produced during the month of Tir 1391, roughly equivalent to July 2012 in the Iranian calendar, a 43% year-on-year fall. Year-to-date after 4 months of the year 1391, the Iranian industry is down 39% to 278,578 units. The Saipa Pride is still the favourite model in Iran but with only 24,001 units produced this month it is down a massive 57% year-on-year and 48% year-to-date at 107,448. In fact the entire Top 6 most produced models is unchanged vs. June but the y-o-y variations are strikingly different.

The Peugeot 405 stays #2 but has now started to fall at -10% to 12,762 units, ahead of the Iran Khodro Samand down 20%, the Renault Tondar 90 (aka Dacia Logan) down 7%, the Peugeot Pars down 16% and the Peugeot 206 down 51% to 4,482. Only the Renault Megane bucks the trend, up 91% to 1,854 unit this month. The other Saipa model, the Tiba, falls even harder than the Pride at -68% to #9.

Iran Khodro Runna

There is a newcomer in the Top 10 this month: 3 long years after its original presentation, the Iran Khodro Runna, based on a Peugeot 206 sedan, has started to gear up its production albeit very very slowly: from 57 units produced at #15 in June, it is now up to 103 at #10… Still a long way to go. For its part the Great Wall Voleex C30 is down 4 spots to #15 with 60 units.

Previous month: Iran June 2012: Great Wall Voleex C30 makes its first appearance

One year ago: Iran July 2011: Tondar 90 and Iran Khodro Samand shine

Full July 2012 Top 15 Ranking Table below.