Iran Suffers 40% Drop In Automobile Production

Car companies in Iran churned out 1.34 million cars and commerical vehicles in 2018, a 40 percent decline on 2017 according to OICA. It marks the sharpest fall for the country's car industry in the 21st century. In 2017, Renault signed a $150 million deal to produce as many as 150,000 cars a year in Iran.

Even though it was branded as the largest foreign auto deal in Iranian history, it never came to fruition with Renault chief operating officer Thierry Bollore saying that the company would withdraw from the country due to renewed U.S. sanctions. Last month, Tehran announced that the deal isn't quite dead and that Renault is going to return to Iran. On March 14, Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade, Farshad Moqimi, said that a new mechanism has been devised for the French company which will allow it to resume manufacturing in Iran despite U.S. sanctions. Renault neither confirmed nor denied his claims.