Press TV- Irans Saipa Group says it has exported 230,000 vehicles worth 1.2 billion in recent years as the automakerplans to expand sales with new designs and competitive products.
The Tehran-based automaker has mostly been producing budget cars in recent years under license from South Korea and France for Iranian and international customers.
The companyexportsvehicles to about 40 markets, deputy head for exports and international affairs of the groupMohsen Dastkhosh said on Friday.
Saipa Group's new plans for designing and producing a competitive product will bring about a boost in exports, IRNA quoted him as saying.
Saipa began production in Iran in 1968 by assembling French automobile manufacturer Citroens Dyane which went under the name of Jyane in the Middle Eastern country.
Since then, the group has been expandingand currently includes such subsidiaries as Saipa Diesel, Pars Khodro and Zamyad Co.
Irans auto industry is the Middle Easts largest but it is based on assembling foreign brands. Iranian automakers now design, manufacture, and export cars. They also manufacture automotive parts and components and sell their products through dealers in Iran and internationally.
The industry has the full state support and a monopoly on the market which, many critics say, has resulted in a laggard sector with no serious efforts to improve quality despite frequent price hikes. It includes levying hefty customs duties on imports in order to protect the domestic auto industry.
Iranian automakers see total production to hit 1.6 million units in 2017, up from 1.35 million last year and 750,000 in 2014 when the country came under intensified sanctions.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"]
Employees at a Saipa auto plant assemble a Tiba car in Tehran.[/caption]Since the lifting of the sanctions in 2016, the auto sector has drawn perhaps the biggest interest fromforeign investors, chiefly the French, who are looking to tap the countrys hungerfor new cars.
France's Peugeot Citroen and Renaultslammed the door on Irans face after Europe intensified sanctions on the Islamic Republic in 2011. Many expertsare now advising cautionand call for stronger checks and balances in dealing with the French.
Iran is the Middle Easts largest auto market with a population of more than 80 million who are estimated to buy more than 1 million cars in 2017.
The automobile industry is seen as Irans biggest non-oil sector, accounting for nearly 10% of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP). Iran Khodro and Saipa companies account for more than 90 percent of the total domestic production in Iran.
Officials say the country has the capacity to turn into a hub for production of vehicles in the regional market with a population of 400 million people.
