TEHRAN: Foreign carmakers seeking a return to the Iranian market with the lifting of international sanctions will find the business environment has changed: former joint venture partners now want to play the game by their own rules.
Iran’s car industry has been a major casualty of penalties imposed over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme, with production plummeting and workers laid off because of the ensuing economic slowdown.
France’s PSA Peugeot-Citroen and South Korea’s Hyundai left the country altogether, while Renault continues to import parts and assemble cars in Tehran but at a fraction of former output.
Total car production was 1.6 million in 2011, but it had halved two years later.
United States sanctions on the car industry in 2013 were the main cause, on top of American and European bans on Iranian bank transactions abroad.
But the car sanctions were lifted earlier this year after an interim nuclear agreement was reached between Iran and world powers and a final accord is still on the horizon, raising the prospect of better times for the industry.
That will draw international suitors to Tehran yesterday for the second consecutive Iran Auto Show.
Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, Renault, Peugeot, Kia and Toyota have confirmed. US carmakers General Motors and Ford were invited but it is unclear if they will attend.
The organisers want to attract foreign investment but the conditions of a partnership are likely to change.
Under new joint deals, the industry ministry wants 40 per cent of production done in Iran to begin with, rising to 85 per cent after five years. AFP