January 25, 2019
Iran’s auto industry is once again plunged into a depression with output down a quarter from last year.
Production of autos, trucks and buses in the first eight months of this Persian year, which is through November, is down 24.9 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.
But for the month ending November 21, production was down 57.4 percent, suggesting that sanctions are taking an immense toll.
Foreign firms that normally supply Iranian firms with kits from which to assemble cars or with a large proportion of the components for Iranian-made cars have withdrawn from Iran under threat of American sanctions, making it very hard to keep production going.
The fact that Iranian firms are keeping production going at even half-rate suggests that they are either getting key parts through smugglers or are using inferior parts made locally or in Third World countries where producers can evade sanctions.
