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IKCO CEO Hesham Yekke Zareh kicked off test production of the model on July 15 in a ceremony with government ministers.
Yekke Zareh said IKCO planned to begin mass production of the Peugeot 301 after the end of the current Iranian calendar year in March, adding that the company had directed €60mn worth of investment into the project.
“Some 100,000 units of this car will be produced in phase one and [annual production] will increase to 250,000 units in the next four years without any support from Peugeot,” he said.
Yekkeh Zareh insisted that the car would keep the logo and brand name of France’s Peugeot despite the fact that the company was seen as having reneged on its promises by leaving the Iranian market in June 2016. It is not known if Peugeot has agreed payments for the vehicles. “Ultimately, these cars belong to Peugeot,” Yekkeh Zareh was cited as saying, adding that IKCO will launch similar production lines for the Peugeot 208 and 2008 models for which thousands of pre-orders have yet to be met.
Second largest Iranian automaker SAIPA Group, which signed a production deal with Citroen, has taken orders for a great deal of Citroen C3 models in Iran which it has been unable to deliver.
In May, the Iranian-backed Azermash automaking joint venture in Azerbaijan said production of the new Peugeot 207 would begin at its plant in Neftchala Industrial Zone in the summer.
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 Aviation corporate news
Airbus's director of public relations said on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show 2019 that Iran’s big orders for aircraft from the company have not been cancelled, IRNA has reported.
Justin Dubon said the hope was the multi-billion-euro orders for new jets
49 IRAN Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com