The Iranian auto industry will replace foreign brands in Russia – the parties signed a cooperation agreement, which involves the use of the capacities of the Renault plant in Moscow for the production of Iranian cars. This was told to RTVI by the head of the Russian center "Iranians Abroad" Mirzai Ghazi Abbas Moslem.
He said that Iranian companies still have licenses from large international auto concerns, including Renault, which left Russia, as well as Peugeot and Mercedes. Moslem believes that countries could help each other: Russia has idle production capacity, and Iran has the necessary technologies. Iranian cars are going to be produced at the Moskvich plant.
“We have our own technologies. Sanctions on auto parts in Iran were introduced only in 2017, before that there were none. We have licenses from Renault, Peugeot, from Mercedes. We have technologies, Russia has productive capacities. Therefore, we can join forces and produce cars regardless of the West,” Moslem said on the sidelines of the Strong Russia summit.
Moskvich representatives declined to comment on the talks. In addition to Moskvich, the option is being considered with factories in Tatarstan, namely in Naberezhnye Chelny and Yelabuga, which the Russian authorities had previously proposed to use for the revival of the Soviet car brands Volga and Pobeda.
The State Duma called building up economic ties with Iran a "priority." First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Denis Kravchenko believes that cooperation with the Islamic Republic reflects the openness of the Russian economy to foreign companies.
An attempt to quickly find a replacement for the departed foreign brands led to a scandalous "presentation" of new models of the Moskvich brand. After the presentation, it turned out that samples of Chinese cars of the JAC brand were used in the presented photos and renderings. Later, the partner of the Moscow authorities in the Moskvich project, KamAZ, completely disowned the project, noting that the presentation was not agreed with the concern.
The departure of foreign companies from the Russian market led to catastrophic consequences in the automotive sector. As a result of May, car production in Russia collapsed by 96.7%, sales of new cars fell by almost 80%.