Member of Parliament: Mazda and Hyundai Exit the Iranian Car Market

A week after reports of Peugeot-Citroen's exit from Iran, a member of the Parliament's Industries and Mines Commission announced that Japanese Mazda and South Korean Hyundai have also canceled their contracts with Iranian automakers. Vali Maleki stated in an interview with the website of the Parliament, House of the Nation, that the interests of these companies in the U.S. are 'several times' greater than their interests in Iran, and these companies will not 'sacrifice' their interests. According to Maleki, Bahman Motor is currently replacing Mazda with the Chinese Haval vehicle. The Bahman Group is the provider of Mazda products in Iran. Following the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers, known as the JCPOA, Hyundai resumed cooperation with Kerman Motor Company to produce three models, i10, i20, and Accent, in 2017 at the Kerman Motor factory in the Arghad New Economic Zone. Peugeot-Citroen, the French automotive giant, also announced on June 14 that it would end its joint cooperation with Iran within two months. In recent days and weeks, major companies such as Total, Maersk, Peugeot, General Electric, Honeywell, Boeing, Lukoil, Reliance, Daewoo Corporation, and Siemens have announced that they are halting cooperation with Iran due to fears of U.S. sanctions. Additionally, European refineries have reduced their oil purchases from Iran following the U.S. exit from the JCPOA and the end of the suspension of unilateral sanctions. Meanwhile, economist Jamshid Asadi stated in an interview with Radio Farda that even if the JCPOA continues with the presence of European countries, European companies will not remain in Iran. He emphasized that the environment in Iran is one of 'instability' and that 'given the provocations with Israel,' major investors will not turn to Iran. According to Asadi, even before the U.S. exit from the JCPOA, foreign companies were in a state of waiting and 'no' investments were made in Iran. On the same day, the website Asr Iran reported an increase in car prices ranging from 2 to 40 million tomans, citing the exit of companies such as Peugeot, Citroen, and Hyundai from the Iranian market as one of the reasons for the price hikes. For instance, the price of the Peugeot 2008, the first jointly produced car by Peugeot and Iran Khodro under a joint contract, has increased by 25 million tomans.