November 19, 2021
Iranian automaker Saipa says its discontinued and substandard Pride is still a good seller in neighboring Iraq.
Saipa’s deputy for exports, Ali Karimi, said October 12 that the company had sold 160,000 units of the budget model in Iraq this year, explaining that the model is being assembled in Iraq’s central city of Alexandria.
Assembly in Iran was halted last year after many years of pressure on Saipa for producing a vehicle rated uniformly as substandard and even ruled unsafe by many.
Karimi said Pride is popular in Iraq mainly because customers in the Arab country can easily and cheaply access its spare parts. Furthermore, he said a price tag of $6,800 offered for the Pride in Iraq is the lowest for a new car in the 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. It is based on a model designed by South Korea’s Kia Motors.
The model was finally discontinued after the Iranian government introduced strict crash test standards that the Pride could not pass.
Saipa’s other models that are based on the Pride, including Tiba and Saina, have been among the best-selling budget cars in the Iranian market in recent years.
The Iranian customs administration (IRICA) said exports of Iranian cars generated a total of $5.7 million for the country over the Persian calendar year ending March 19, 2020.
IRICA spokesman Rou-hollah Latifi said Iranian car models exported over the period had reached nine countries from Hong Kong and Taiwan in Southeast Asia to Spain in Europe.
Latifi said the Saina accounted for nearly 90 percent of the value of the exports.
The official said Iraq was the top customer for Iranian cars with more than $3.1 million worth of sales, followed by Azerbaijan at $1.2 million and Syria on nearly $1 million.
