Fiat and Pininfarina are among foreign auto-related firms that plan to attend the Iran Auto Industry International Conference being held later this week in Tehran. The event was actually planned ahead of last week’s lifting of sanctions, but organizer Sasan Ghorbani says that interest from foreign brands increased immediately thereafter.
“Everyone asks us, ‘Did you know that sanctions would be lifted days ahead of this conference?’” Ghorbani told Bloomberg. “To be honest, we didn’t.”
Some sanctions were lifted following a closed-doors meeting in Geneva, Switzerland late last week.
It’s not clear just what direction Iran’s new car market will take. Before European Union sanctions were put into place a few years ago, several European automakers – Fiat, Daimler, Peugoet-Citroen and Renault, in particular – both built and sold vehicles in Iran. Partnering with Iran Khodro, PSA, the parent company of Peugeot-Citroen, had carved out Iran as its second largest market behind France.
Today, numerous hurdles exist: The relative lack of a sales and parts distribution network and an economy weakened by years of sanctions are not offset by high demand.
Ghorbani went as far as to call Iran a “virgin market” even though it has some car-building infrastructure still in place.
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