Page 42 - IRANRptMay19

9.2.2 Automotive corporate news
A possible joint venture between Russian automotive giant LADA and third largest Iranian carmaker Pars Khodro has been cancelled, according Asbe Bokhar automotive magazine wrote on April 30. Following last year’s US reimposition of sanctions against Iran and foreign companies who choose to stay in business with the country, investment-starved Iranian carmakers looked to tie up with firms that have no presence on the American market and thus less risk of being caught out by Washington’s hardball policies.
The worsening economic situation in Iran caused by the US sanctions regime is believed to be the reason behind the Russian firm deciding to pull out of talks for the JV. Iranians’ spending power has been drastically curtailed amid the recession-hit economy bearing the strain of a collapsed Iranian rial. Companies including France’s Renault and PSA Group’s Peugeot have pulled out of Iran.
China’s auto market players, unlike their French counterparts have no plans for the US market, but they have also found it increasingly challenging to continue with their Iranian operations.
Firms like Chery , which invested in a multimillion-dollar factory in the Bam Special Economic Zone—a tax-free industrial zone in the south of Iran—have struggled to repatriate revenue from Iran due to closures that keep hitting Iranian bank accounts in China.
Amid the negative outlook for Iranian carmakers, there are now rumours that some of them are now actively discussing future cooperation with partners from India. However, no Indian carmaker has been named in Iranian reporting on this matter.
9.2.3 Transport corporate news
Private Iranian carrier Mahan Air, accused by US and allies of transporting military equipment to Middle East war zones, on April 8 launched a direct flight to Venezuela.
Iran, like Venezuela subject to US sanctions, is among countries that have voiced support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who is under pressure from the Trump administration to step down. Russia, China, and Turkey have also backed Maduro.
Facing heat from the US, France and Germany banned Mahan Air’s flights earlier this year, citing allegations that it transported military equipment and personnel to Syria and other regional war zones.
Iran’s IRIB news agency quoted Iranian Civil Aviation Organisation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh as saying that the Venezuela route was launched in the early hours, and that the plane was carrying foreign ministry officials to Caracas, along with a Mahan Air delegation that would discuss maintaining regular flights between Tehran and Caracas. The non-stop Tehran-Caracas flight was scheduled to take 16 hours.
Mahan Air was established in 1992 as Iran’s first private airline. It boasts the country’s largest fleet of aircraft.
The US imposed sanctions on Mahan Air as far back as 2011, saying it provided financial and other support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) .
42 IRAN Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com