Iranian automotive companies are expected to hit a record target of 1.6 million vehicles in collective output in the calendar year to late March 2024, according to the country’s industries minister.
Reza Fatemi Amin said on Sunday that Iran is racing against the time to overcome a shortage of cars in the domestic market which he said has been more than a half a million units per year for the past four years.
“In the Iranian market there has been a need for 1.5 million vehicles (per year) but the supply has been less than one million units,” said Fatemi Amin, adding that the shortage has fueled hoarding and speculative trade in the market, causing prices to rise.
The minister said, however, that record car output in the calendar year to late March 2023 helped ease the tensions in the Iranian market.
He said vehicle output in Iran had increased by 45% over calendar year 1401, helping the country to move up three places to 16 in the global ranking of car producing nations.
A senior Iranian industries ministry (MIMT) official said earlier this week that the total number of home-made vehicles sold in the year to March 20 had reached over 1.347 units, including 1.242 million new vehicles and some 105,000 unfinished vehicles that were completed and delivered to the customers.
Abdollah Tavakoli, who leads MIMT’s automotive industries department, said last calendar year’s car production figure was in fact up from a previous record reported in 2014 when Iranian carmakers relied on production of foreign brands for a significant part of their output.