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reportedly told customers that they were no longer eligible for Hyundai cars due to the continuing devaluation of the rial and instead offered a Chinese JAC SUV model. Customers reportedly stormed the showroom demanding their money back, citing weeks of delays in obtaining their vehicles. The company responded by offering IRR150mn in addition to the Chinese JAC.
South Korea’s Hyundai announced some weeks back that it was intending to leave the Iranian market due to US pressure. The company previously signed up to produce several low-cost Hyundai models in Iran.
French carmaker Renault intends to maintain a presence in Iran but may have to greatly downsize its operations to avoid the risk of penalties for breaching renewed US sanctions, its CEO Carlos Ghosn said on June 16 at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Paris, AFP reported. "We will not abandon it [the Iranian market], even if we have to downsize very strongly," he reportedly said.
The stance of Renault in the face of the US sanctions to be imposed following the Trump administration’s unilateral early May exit from the multilateral nuclear deal, contrasts with that of the PSA Group—the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars, as well as up-market DS vehicles—which in early June said it was preparing to suspend its joint venture activities in the Islamic Republic. "When the market reopens, the fact of having stayed will certainly give us an advantage," Ghosn also told the gathered shareholders. He added: "We have a future in Iran."
IKCO, PSA’s biggest partner in Iran, which produces a range of outmoded vehicles including the 30-year-old Peugeot 405, is the Iranian automaker likely to suffer the most from the group’s unhappy goodbye. Likewise, SAIPA Group, which signed a deal with Citroen only recently, is set to take a heavy blow. It has sold a great deal of Citroen C3 models in the country which it is yet to deliver. It remains to be seen whether the buyers will ever see their vehicles or will have to settle for a refund.
9.2.3 Transport corporate news
US government officials have hinted that they will not allow aircraft makers to continue to work with Iran, despite calls for exemptions from the recently suggested sanctions, according to Flight Global on July 10. US officials have been ramping up plans in recent weeks to target any high profile company working with Iranian counterparts, whether they be related to the nuclear deal or partly government owned.
US Treasury Department assistant secretary of terrorist financing, Marshall Billingslea, said the US government is unlikely to approve a request by ATR to sell more turboprops to IranAir, some of which are ready with livery in France for delivery. Aircraft manufacturers have to "obtain licenses from us" to fully support aircraft delivered to Iranian airlines, he said. "At this stage, I think we are not in a position to suggest we would be issuing such licenses," he said. The official added that the US is unlikely to allow ATR to deliver the ready jets to Iran, even after the company publicly appealed to OFAC for the delivery of the jets. "We are not in a position to show flexibility on transactions with Iran at this time," he added. Since revoking those licenses, the US has seen a "surge in surreptitious purchasing by Iranians of spare parts", Billingslea added.
Dutch airline KLM has announced that it will stop flights to Tehran “as a result of negative results and financial outlook” following its partner airline Air France having already ceased flights earlier in 2018.
49 IRAN Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com