Iran produces over 920,000 cars in past calendar year

TEHRAN,April 22(MNA) - Iran produced over 920,000 cars in the past Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20. Over 788,000 passenger cars were manufactured last year. Iran imported over 44,000 cars, worth more than $1 billion, last year. The imports showed 11.3 percent rise year on year. The average price of the imported cars was $24,441. The UAE, South Korea, and Kuwait were the main sources of exporting cars to Iran, with 57 percent, 27 percent, and 4 percent shares of the total number of exported cars, respectively. Meanwhile, Iran exported 49,952 cars, valued at about $294 million, during the first eleven months of the past Iranian calendar year. Iraq, Ukraine and Azerbaijan were the main importers of Iranian cars. Iranian carmakers are manufacturing at 50 percent of their nominal capacity, he said. This is due to the shortage of capital, the Fars News Agency quoted him as saying. Iran plans to manufacture at least three million cars by 2025 and export some one million sets, Iranian Industry, Mines, and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said last June.