Iran’s Saipa, French Citroen to sign co-op deal by June
Iran's second major carmaker Saipa and the French giant carmaker Citroen will sign cooperation deal next month, Mehdi Jamali, CEO of Saipa, said.
The two parties have agreed to manufacture cars in Saipa's plant in the city of Kashan in central Iran, Jamali added.
Saipa continues negotiations with international counterparts to launch joint ventures, he said.
The foreign partners should take part in investment as well as exporting certain part of the joint products to third markets based on the Iranian administration policies, Jamali said.
Earlier Fariborz Shahbaz, head of Saipa's Kashan plant said that five models of Citroen including Elysee and SC35 will be produced in the plant through a 50/50 venture.
Mansour Moazami, managing director of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) also announced early May that the first joint products will come into market within the next 18-24 months.
Almost $200 million is estimated to be invested in the joint venture.
Iranian carmakers manufactured 1.1 million cars over the last fiscal year (ended March 20) and there are plans to increase the figure to 1.3 million this fiscal year(by March 2017.
Iran plans to produce three million cars a year over the next 10 years.
A deal on establishing a joint venture between the Iranian leading auto maker Iran Khodro (IKCO) and France's Peugeot, was already inked during the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's January visit to France.
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