Iranian car manufacturer Saipa says its discontinued model Pride is a good seller in neighboring Iraq.
Saipa’s deputy for exports Ali Karimi said on Tuesday that the company had sold 160,000 units of the budget model in Iraq this year, adding that the model is also being reassembled in a site in Iraq’s central city of Alexandria.
Karimi said Pride is popular in Iraq mainly because customers in the Arab country can easily and cheaply access its spare parts.
He said a price tag of $6,800 offered for the Iranian Pride on the Iraqi car dealership websites is the lowest available for new car in Arab country.
“Pride is the only car which is sold in Iraq on a cash-only basis as all other car manufacturing companies offer their products to the market through credit or installment schemes,” said the Saipa executive.
Saipa bid farewell to production of Pride last year some 27 years after the model was rolled out in the company based on a same model by South Korea’s Kia Motors.
The model was discontinued after the Iranian government introduced strict crash test standards for cars produced inside the country.
Saipa’s other models that are based on Pride, including Tiba and Saina, have been among the best selling budget cars in the Iranian market in recent years.