Will Automotive Contracts Lock Open?

Khodrocar – it was March 2017 (Esfand 1395) when Mohsen Salehi Nia, deputy minister of Industry, Mine and Trade in Industrial affairs in the 11th government promised the signing of IKCO and Benz contract in Farvardin 1396, producing first Saipa-Citroen joint venture product in Ordibehesht 1396, signing Renault – IDRO contract in spring of 1396 but none of them happened then and they all postponed until the spring of 1397.

In the final days of last year,  Salehi Nia has talked about producing the first SAIPA – Citroen joint venture product in Ordibehesht 1397 but he didn’t say anything about the Benz-IKCO contract and the execution time of Renault – IDRO contract which was officially signed about 9 months ago.

The silence of Salehi Nia is not a new thing because all governmental officials are silent about the vehicle contracts, for example Mansor Moazami – CEO of IDRO denied to talk about the vehicle contracts in the last three months of 1396 and even Mohamad Shariatmadari, minister of Industry, Mine and Trade is not talking about the details of vehicle contracts.

Now, we are in the 1397 and the leader of Iran has called the new Iranian year, which began on March 21, the year of "Support for Iranian Products”. To make this motto happen in the automotive industry, absorbing foreign investment and transferring foreign technical knowhow to the country is necessary because Iranian automakers showed that they can’t gain customer satisfaction even while they haven’t any competitors. In this situation, Iran’s auto industry is eyeing on foreign contracts which are postponed for a month to another.

It is time to see how the ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade will act to make its promises happen in order to improve the quality of cars as an Iranian product. They have to remove obstacles which governmental organizations put in front of vehicle contracts.

Khodrocar Reporter: Asal Dadashloo

Khodrocar Translator: Amin Zamani