Automotive: PSA formalizes his return to Iran after the lifting of sanctions – L’Express

Signed on the sidelines of the visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in France, this new joint venture with Iran Khodro, partner of the French carmaker, aims to produce Peugeot models 208, 2008 and 301 from the second half of 2017, according a statement.

PSA aims to build medium-term 200,000 models per year, and more in what its chief executive, Carlos Tavares, hoped to be “ very long-term relationship ” .

Starting this year, the new joint venture will control the current production of PSA vehicles (vehicles older generation of Peugeot 405 and 206) in Iran Khodro factory west of Tehran.

PSA does not record them in its global statistics (2.97 million units sold in 2015) because they are made with local and Chinese pieces. However, they hold one third of the new home market in Iran with 350,000 units last year, according to the company.

PSA certified parts will find their place in the production process, respecting the Iranian rules requiring 40% locally sourced parts, says Tavares.

The new alliance with Iran Khodro in this “ joint venture ” 50-50 marks the highly anticipated return of PSA in Iran, four years after a forced departure by tight Western sanctions against the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic.

This renunciation had been a blow to the manufacturer while the country was at the time its second outlet in volume after France. PSA estimated three to four million Peugeot circulating today in Iran.

M. Tavares, who had been referred to the 2015 tough negotiations with the Iranian side, irritated by the start of 2012, acknowledged Thursday that the negotiations, which began 18 months ago, “ took time “.

– “ Without bitterness, without bitterness ” –

“ It was difficult positions were not naturally convergent “, he admitted. “ But we must also recognize that the presence of PSA Peugeot notably in Iran, with 30% market share, largely deserves that effort “.

The period of sanctions was “ logical resented by our Iranian colleagues, we had to exceed these injuries (…) having a clean slate of the past, without bitterness, without sourness , “detailed Mr. Tavares stressing that” PSA would also have preferred not to have to leave Iran in 2012 “.

PSA, which is the first western automaker to announce his return to Iran since the beginning of the lifting of sanctions, stressed that the joint venture could eventually export products “ in the region “of the Middle East, one of its development priorities, even in Russia.

With the gradual lifting of sanctions against Iran in the wake of the nuclear deal of 2015, this market sharpens the auto industry appetites.

Iran is indeed considered one auto markets to more high growth potential: the equipment rate is less than 100 cars per 1,000 inhabitants, six times less than in the European Union and its consumers are not only creditworthy but also fond of well-equipped models.

Iranian Automobile Production, which was 1.65 million units in 2011, fell sharply to 740,000 in 2013 because of the sanctions. She left upward to 1.1 million vehicles in 2014. PSA estimates that it will reach 1.6 million in 2018 and two million in 2022.

French rival PSA, Renault, is he remained in Iran, where he assembles local versions of the average sedan “ low-cost ” Dacia Logan and Sandero. Its sales in the country reached 54,000 units last year.

The company is the diamond for now remained discreet about his ambitions in Iran even though last week’s Commercial Director, Thierry Koskas, had indicated that there was now “ very discussions advanced with (its) partners “.