Iran's Car Industry is Growing Rapidly with Hyundai, VW, Renault and PSA Currently Producing Cars There
While BMW just became the first automotive company to export cars into Iran in decades, South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. just finished production of its first Iranian-made vehicles, celebrating line-off last Wednesday.
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| South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. just finished production of its first Iranian-made vehicles. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, Canadian Auto Press) |
"The first Hyundai Verna models assembled by Kerman Motor were delivered to their Iranian customers today," commented a spokeswoman for the Kerman Automotive Industries Co., the automaker's Iranian partner in a Reuters report.
In the same report, Jae Won Joo, Hyundai's general manager in Iran, stated, "In the initial stage, 20,000 to 30,000 cars will be assembled in Iran."
Hyundai expects production will eventually achieve 100,000 units per annum.
"We think we can easily hit that target and give the Iranian customers new choices in buying cars," Joo added.
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| Hyundai is progressive in the Middle East, being the first automaker to set up a retail dealership in war-torn Iranian neighbor Iraq. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
The plant has been set up in southeast Iran in the province of Kerman.
Kerman Automotive Industries has been building Korean cars for a decade, having assembled Daewoos since 1992. With Daewoo having been purchased by General Motors the cooperative partnership was ended, opening the doors for a new relationship with Hyundai.
In July Kerman also inked a deal with Volkswagen AG, to assemble more than 20,000 vehicles, which are scheduled for line-off in December.
Kerman's competitor Iran Khodro, a state-run manufacturer which is also the Middle East's largest, recently signed agreements to build vehicles for French carmakers Renault and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen SA.
Hyundai is progressive in the Middle East, being the first automaker to set up a retail dealership in war-torn Iranian neighbor Iraq (see news archives for Apr 15, 2004: New Hyundai Dealership Opens in Baghdad amid Recent Violence). No doubt, the same value-content approach used in Western nations will make them successful in all markets.