Financial Tribune - Despite the Iranian government’s promise to halt the production of substandard cars in a few months, recent moves indicate local carmakers are moving in the opposite direction.

There had been a protracted debate in Iran over phasing out the production of poor quality cars like SAIPA’s Pride and Iran Khodro’s Peugeot 405. And in the past few months, officials announced plans to halt the production of these models in the near future.

However, carmaker Iran Khodro (IKCO) has been registering presale orders for the same model that will be delivered next year, an official with the Department of Environment says.

Behzad Ashjei took to Twitter to criticize the carmaker for the underhand move. “The DOE will certainly take action against the carmaker,” he declared.

He pointed out that IKCO is registering preorders for vehicles that barely meet the Euro 4 standards.