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Iran's car industry aspires to build an engine of its own

Iran's car industry aspires to build an engine of its own

Posted Jan 3rd 2006 1:00PM

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So, Iran looks to be one of the Next Big Things for automakers in their chase to find lower cost manufacturing, but it's clear that the country's auto industry has much bigger aspirations than serving as China's slave labor. Iran already imports "knockdown kits" from Asia, but in an attempt to fully mature its auto industry, the country continues to work towards the manufacture of its own engine.

Make no mistake, though - exporting parts will still be a large part of what the country does. Iran's export of automotive components is expected to top $300M in 2006 (a healthy 67% increase over the '05 levels), and sales of $1B/year are in the country's five-year plan. It should be interesting to see if any of these parts make it to the West, and if so, how well they are received.

Category: Trends

Tags: Iran, manufacturing

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MahdiAyat

as an iranian i'm so proud to see ur sopport over my country ... it's sure there r lots of problems but if u go back and look at ur own country u'll see that under its skin ... same stuff r layin' ... great information about my country's auto industry ... and in addition in 2006-2010 the all new L90 a $1Bil. foreign/local joint project is expected to produce and export over 300,000 units of L90 to EU ... with price of only ERO5000 per unit ... this is gonna be one of the cheapest cars for EU members. (especially the for the new 10 members of EU)!

take a look at www.ikco.com
now u can call 911

January 27 2006 at 2:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

WOW

It is very enjoyable to see that most Americans posting here are so jealous of Iran. One more thing to raise your blood pressure. LOL. While American car manufacturing companies are losing money and lying off people, Iran's car manufacturing are showing positive sales. They are expanding to other countries. To name a few countries that use Iranian manufactured cars are Russia, UAE, Azerbaijan, China, Venezuela, Syria, Morocco, Indonesia and soon to Tajikistan, Turkmenistan. Shall I continue? Make sure you have a phone near so you can call an ambulance after you read this post since you may have a heart attack from jealousy.

January 10 2006 at 12:42 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Hunter James

Does you armchair polymaths here realize that Iran's "nuclear threat" is no more than a product of the American media? Iran needs power for street-lights, reading lights and other simple illuminating liberties. Do you think they have the money to erect solor panels, or the necessary income and landscape to benefit from wind power? How about hydro-electricity? Iran needs nuclear power in order to develop as a country. How much power do you think it will take to run an automotive manufacturing plant? More than they currently have to spare.

As for quality, the best engineers in the world are not Americans. They are Saudis, Koreans, Japanese, Germans, Russians, Canadians, French, etc. - but they work in the U.S., because that's where the money is. To say that Iran doesn't have any quality to offer is just plain ignorant. I bet GM would sell Iran all of their engine plans right now just to scrounge up some cash to battle their squalid financial woes. Speaking of GM, why is it that such a proud American manufacturer is doing so bloody poorly? Is it because they're being run by Iranians? I think not.

Those of you who are afraid of Iran as a nuclear power, and who think that Iran isn't capable of producing competitive cars (or parts at least), and who support GM and all other American products with blind faith - you need to seriously invest in some facts outside of the American media. You all speak in such absolutes about the ways of the world, and yet, your local newspapers provide you with 99% of your know-how.

Remember when Korean automakers were taboo? Japanese? Chinese (watch for Geely at this year's NAIAS)? Remember why they started producing cars. Remember why they came to the North American market. Remember why a Japanese company currently dominates the North American car market. Remember how much of a fuss you put up? If you don't - go get a library card, and start learning.

January 05 2006 at 1:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

onell

I think this is an ever efficient nuclear fired engine!

January 04 2006 at 5:47 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Glenn A.

Here is an interesting quote from an article in today's Opinion Journal (Wall Street Journal) by Mary Anastasia O'Grady that at least shows monetary benefits to "free" nations versus "repressed" and everything inbetween. More important should be the thought that in "free" countries, we normally don't have to worry about the secret police coming for us in the middle of the night, as the Stazi (East German Secret Police) did as recently as 20 years ago, for one example. Here's the quote:

The 2006 Index of Economic Freedom, published today by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, provides powerful clues. The annual report surveys 157 countries, grading property rights protection, the regulatory environment, tax rates, fiscal policy, government intervention in the economy, monetary policy, black markets and trade policy, assigning each a numerical rating. Each country falls into one of four categories: "free," "mostly free," "mostly unfree" and "repressed." This year's results are here.

As they do every year, the index authors observe the average per capita income of countries in each category. Not surprisingly, over the years, they have found a strong relationship between economic freedom and prosperity. Yet there is something more that can be observed in this pattern: Countries that liberalize quickly and thoroughly achieve resounding successes, politically and economically. Conversely, gradualism risks stagnation and even reversals, because the benefits are not evident enough to impress the electorate and generate a momentum in their favor.

Take, for example, the difference between the wealth of "repressed" economies and "mostly unfree" economies. The per capita GDP of the former is $4,239 while of the latter it is a tad lower at $4,058. This suggests that reforms that move a country one step up in economic liberty, on average, produce no material benefit to the population.

The jump from "mostly unfree" to "mostly free" yields a much better return but still leaves a country not particularly well-off. "Mostly free" countries have a per capita GDP of $13,530, while "free" countries have, on average, a per capita GDP of over $30,000.

January 04 2006 at 9:43 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Glenn A.

I read once that every nation gets the government it deserves.

"Allah" must truly hate the Iranians. Perhaps once their loonietoon leadership is wiped out and the nukes are gone, the rest of the world (read: as always, the United States - since Europe only navel-gazes) will assist them in finding a better way, as Edsel says.

On the other side of the coin, doesn't it get rather tiresome for us to continually help our enemies after we defeat them, instead of stomp them as they would to us? Oh, yeah, I almost forgot - we're (un-PC alert) a Christian nation, aren't we? At least some of our founders obviously were, anyway.

January 04 2006 at 8:58 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Hehe...gonna have to side with MyName on this one, Mr. YourName. He [she?] managed to pull that off with what us Americans like to call 'tact' or 'diplomacy', not insulting anyone directly while still making his motives clear. Props to MyName...for you, only shame.

January 03 2006 at 11:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Comrade Joseph Dubya

"I am glad to see that some wonderfully intelligent people read and comment on this blog."

Touch鬠jackass.

January 03 2006 at 9:20 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Edsel

Dear Mr. MyName,

As one of our intrepid figures in US history proclaimed to his opponent 61 years ago Dec 22nd and I now say to you and Mr. Ahmadinejad; "NUTS!".

May the good people of Iran find peace, prosperity and democracy in their lifetime.

January 03 2006 at 9:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

My Name

I am glad to see that some wonderfully intelligent people read and comment on this blog. I am even more pleased to see that what they say is so relevant and makes so much sense.

Surely, in Iran - a country of 68 million people - only one person is capable of making everything from automobile engines to nuclear power stations (just like only 4 people in the USA - with its population of 296 million people - make everything). So it's rather odd that the one person who makes everything in Iran has decided to concentrate more on the nuclear facilities and less on 4-cylinder internal combustion engines. Surely, they didn't really believe all the threatening words that the West sends Iran on a daily basis. Surely, they don't feel threatened by the US military pretty much surrounding Iran by invading Afghanistan and Iraq without either country declaring war on the US or the US declaring war on them. Surely, they're not upset by the US President including Iran in an "Axis of Evil" just after they helped the US defeat the Taleban in Afghanistan. Surely, they don't want to be able to retaliate if one of the nuclear ICBMS the US is pointing at Iran (a country without nuclear weapons) ends up landing in Iran.

Let us take note that these most learned of all people, who have given us their precious time and knowledge (e.g. about the B52 and AGM129), have hinted to us that it is more than accurate to say that 100% of the people of a country like Iran are just like their president, a talent-less and mad religious fundamentalist with a messianic sense of purpose. If one thinks about this for a moment, it explains why 100% of the US population are just like George W. Bush (right?), a talent-less and mad religious fundamentalist with a messianic sense of purpose.

I think, somewhere on this page, someone said something about the Iranian car industry wanting to make engines rather than buy them from abroad. I don't know who it was, but come on. Put something relevant on this blog. It's called The Political and Military Debate Blog for Morons with No Knowledge or Understanding of History, Geography, Politics, and Death and Destruction. Post some relevant stories on this blog dammit. What the hell do you think it's called? Autoblog?

Forgive my awfully simple and insignificant statement, oh great minds of the Universe, but I'd like to mention a possible theory that the speed at which a person judges things and the relevance of their comments are proportional to the reciprocal of the sum of the size of their knowledge and their level of intelligence. Try to avoid undergoing a cerebral melt-down while you attempt to understand the former statement, morons.

January 03 2006 at 7:10 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply