Iran's automotive 'mega project' will have limited impact
The Iranian government plans to sell 500,000 cars directly to consumers in order to limit the influence of intermediaries and reduce market prices. Here's why that won't work.
To:
Al-Monitor Pro Members
From:
Dr. Bijan Khajehpour
Managing Partner, Eurasian Nexus Partners, Vienna, Austria
Date:
March 15, 2023
Bottom Line:
The Iranian government has set itself a plan to sell 500,000 passenger cars directly to end consumers in an effort to reduce market prices by limiting the influence of intermediaries. But the so-called "mega project" will have a limited impact on the deficiencies of the automotive market. As long as economic conditions remain unstable, manufacturers, traders and consumers will try to benefit from the unsaturated domestic marketplace and government intervention will only complicate matters.