Peugeot 301 production line launched in Iran
July 15, 2019 - Iran launched the production of Peugeot 301 cars at the Iran Khodro (IKCO) plant on Monday.
Sorena Sattari, Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology, participated at the event, reported Trend News Agency.
He noted that 60 percent of the parts required for the Peugeot 301 production would be provided by domestic output, which can be increased to 80 percent in the future.
Sattari also added that about 300 Iranian parts suppliers were hired to manufacture components for this car.
He further added that the sedan Peugeot 301 fully complies with international standards.
Sattari pointed out that Peugeot 301 is produced at IKCO, while the French company Peugeot left Iran as a result of US sanctions.
He added that it was assumed that French companies would provide all parts and equipment necessary for this car production.
“After the French giant Peugeot left Iran, this project was transferred to domestic manufacturers,” Sattari said. He emphasized that the production of this car requires 2,123 parts, adding that Iranian manufacturers made 565 of them.
According to the planned program, the Peugeot 301 will enter the Iranian car market by the end of 2019.
The Peugeot 301 is a compact car, produced by the French automaker Peugeot.
The original 301 is built at Peugeot’s Vigo plant in Spain, alongside its twin Citroen C-Elysee and has been manufactured in China since November 2013, and Nigeria since 2014.
On Sunday, Iranian Industry Minister Reza Rahmani said that despite US efforts to cripple Tehran’s economy, year-on-year comparison shows that the country’s domestic production has increased in the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21).
“US sanctions were imposed to hamper production in Iran, however, we are proud to announce that after 14 months of sanctions, the area has grown one percent in the first three months of the present Iranian year (starting March 21), in comparison with the corresponding period in last year,” Rahmani was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
“We did not let production decrease and that is a victory despite the difficulties we have had under sanctions,” he added.
The minister underlined that the government seeks to increase exports under the current conditions and called for providing the ground for investors.
French carmaker PSA said on Monday that its sales slumped in the first half of the year as it pulled out of Iran and sales in China plunged by nearly two-thirds.
Half of the overall 12.8 percent drop in sales by the maker of Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall brands to 1.9 million vehicles was due to halting operations in Iran to avoid falling foul of US sanctions on the country.
While the Chinese car market has been shrinking since last year, PSA has been hammered, with its sales plummeting by just over 60 percent to 64,000 vehicles in China and Southeast Asia.
Allied with its top investor, Chinese carmaker Dongfeng, PSA sold 742,000 vehicles in China in 2014, but sales have since spiraled lower as consumer tastes shifted.
PSA said it “is working on action plans with its partners to tackle current issues and lower the breakeven point” of its joint ventures in China, where foreign carmakers are required to work with local partners.
Sales in several other emerging markets were also hit hard, dropping by nearly 45 percent in Turkey and by half in Argentina.
PSA managed to resist a dip in European car sales, increasing its market share, thanks in part to Citroen, which managed to tempt more buyers.
With 1.68 million vehicles sold in Europe, the region now accounts for 88 percent of PSA’s overall sales, an increase of 11 percentage points from the same period last year.
Echoing a similar sense of economic progress on Sunday, the Director General of Port and Maritime Organization of Hormuzgan Province Allah Morad Afifipour announced that Iran’s first quarter non-oil exports from the southern port of Shahid Rajaei have increased by 10 percent compared with the corresponding period last year.
An increasing trend has been reported from other Iranian customs gates for the same three-month period.
Also on Sunday, the head of Markazi Customs Administration, Esmaeil Hosseini, said that more than 225 million dollars’ worth of non-oil commodities have been exported from the central Iranian province of Markazi in the first three months of the current local calendar year, which shows a year-on-year increase of four percent.
More than 381,479 tons of non-oil commodities have been exported from Markazi Province in the three-month period, Hosseini said.
He added that the figures show a four-percent growth in terms of value, and a 12-percent decline in terms of tonnage, compared with the same period last year.