Iran May 2015: Saipa Tiba spectacularly shoots up to #1

Change of guard: the Saipa Tiba is the best-selling nameplate in Iran in May.

* See the Top 10 most produced models by clicking on the title *

As is the tradition for Iran, we only have access to local monthly production figures however two elements are to be noted: this data gives a pretty accurate picture of the Iranian new car market as imports are still limited, and import data is in the process of being made available so stay tuned for a lot more information about Iran on BSCN. Car production in Iran over the first two months of the Persian calendar year 1394, corresponding roughly to April and May 2015, is up 17% to 161.426 units, including 150.556 sedans and 8.547 pickups. The Iranian car market has had the same market leaders for decades: the Saipa Pride – a slightly improved 1986 Kia Pride – and the Peugeot 405/Pars, based on the original Peugeot 405 launched in 1987. So a change of leadership is not just momentous, it’s a proper 9.0 Richter scale earthquake. And this is what’s happening in Ordibehesht 1394, or May 2015. After 6 years spent relatively discreetly around the 5th spot in the local production charts (previous best: 8.804 units), the Saipa Tiba shoots up to pole position this month with no less than 29.079 units.

The Saipa codename 234 is till in pre-production but could be the new Tiba.

Two explanations for this sudden surge: the hybrid variant has geared up drastically at 21.623 units this month vs. 12.647 for the petrol variant, and the coming of age of the hatchback variant launched a few months ago. Saipa has also announced its plan to replace its perennial best-seller Pride with the Tiba and is actually restructuring its plants to implement this. The Saipa Pride itself, despite following the market at +17%, is knocked down to 2nd place at 19.996 units, followed by the Peugeot Pars (+32%), 206 (+46%) and 405 (+28%), all outpacing the market by a large margin. The other Iranian car manufacturer, Iran Khodro, should be very worried: production of its namesake brand totals 13.596 units for the month vs. 49.075 for Saipa. The Runna is already down 13% while the Dena is timidly gearing up at 2.484 units.

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

One year ago: Iran May 2014: Production back on track at +146%

Full Ordibehesht 1394/ May 2015 Top 10 models below.