Iran takes 18th place among world's automakers

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

New statistics by the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers showed that Iran takes 18th place on the list of the world’s top auto manufacturers.

The 2014 Production Statistics by the OICA revealed Iran’s auto production increased by 46.7 percent in the 12-month period, Press TV reported.

The latest figures indicated that Iranian automakers produced 1,090,846 cars and commercial vehicles last year, of which 925,975 were cars and 164,871 were other vehicles.

Mohammad Reza Abbasi, head of the commerce and sales office of Iranian carmaker Saipa Co. said in February that the country had sold over a million vehicles in the current Iranian calendar year which ends on March 21.

Abbasi said Iran’s auto production and sales rose 32 percent in 2014 from the year before as the industry started emerging from sanctions.

Iran sold 737,000 cars in 2013 as the industry suffered under sanctions. Sales however picked up after the Europeans lifted the sanctions on the Iranian auto industry under a temporary nuclear agreement reached in November 2013.

Abbasi said Saipa saw both production and sales rise by 32 percent in 2014. Saipa and Iran Khodro account for 82 percent of the country’s auto market.

He added that the automaker will start producing a low-cost car, Saina, in the first half of the new Iranian year. Saipa will also unveil more than 10 models at the next auto show in the central city of Isfahan.

Iran’s auto industry is the biggest in the Middle East which it has developed for five decades. The country produced 1.6 million vehicles in 2011, the year new sanctions were introduced by the Europeans.

The OICA report also said China topped the list with over 23 million motor vehicles and 7.3 percent rise from the previous year.

The United States and Japan trailed behind with more than 11.66 and 9.77 million vehicles respectively, each registering smaller growths than China.

In total, the world produced 87,507,027 cars and other commercial vehicles in 2014, which shows a 2.6 percentage-point rise from 2013. The OICA also predicted a global auto production increase of 3 percent to about 91 million vehicles in 2015.