January 25, 2019
The plan to halt the produc-tion this month of unsafe Iranian cars has been shelved, the Financial Tribune reports, with officials blaming US sanctions and the rial’s collapse.
Production of four models built by Iran’s two biggest automakers, Iran Khodro and Saipa, were due to be halted this month, as per an announcement last fall. The models are the Pride, Tiba, Samand and Peugeot 405. All four failed to meet safety standards set by the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran (ISIRI).
But the regime has now decided not to force the closure of those four production lines.
Ashkan Golpayegani, head of the Iran Standards and Quality Inspection Co. (ISQI), said, “In light of the harsh restrictions imposed by the United States and the steep decline in the value of the rial, domestic carmakers will certainly not be able to upgrade their vehicles to meet at least some of the new standards.”
The companies, however, had been given the opportunity to upgrade the standards last year before the US re-imposed sanctions.
Golpayegani hinted that the real reason for not enforcing the safety standards is that the regime is concerned about removing very cheap cars from the market and angering poorer car buyers.
Golpayegani cited the Pride, which is the cheapest car on the market, listed at 229 million rials ($2,000) by Saipa.
“Pride has not passed the new automotive standards. However, we cannot say that its production must be banned. We obviously need to consider the national [economic] conditions. Large sections of the public can [only] afford the Pride.”
Last fall, the commander of the Traffic Police, Gen Taqi Mehri, said barely 30 percent of the cars made in Iran meet basic safety standards.
