Azerbaijan, Baku, May.29/ Trend F.Karimov/
Renault car company will establish an affiliate company, named Renault Middle East, in Iran, aiming to boost exports to the Middle East, IRNA quoted Renault Pars Company managing director Payman Kargar as saying.
Iran will become the hub of Renault products, so that its products will be exported to 12 countries in the Middle East, he added.
The company is projected to manufacture three million cars per year, he said, adding that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iraq will be the main export destinations.
Iran imported over 44,000 cars, valued at about $1 billion, during the past Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, ISNA reported.
The imports showed an 11.3 percent increase over the course of a year.
According to the report, the average price of these imported cars was $24,441.
The UAE, South Korea, and Kuwait were the main sources of cars imported to Iran, with 57 percent, 27 percent, and 4 percent shares of the total number of exported cars, respectively.
The Industrial Development and Renovation Organization's chairman Gholamreza Shafei said in December 2012 that the main problem facing the Iranian car industry is not international sanctions, but rather a shortage of revolving capital.
Iranian carmakers are manufacturing at 50 percent of their nominal capacity, he said.
This is due to a 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 of them, Iranian Industry, Mines, and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said on June 16.
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