Car Sales Shifting Gears

EghtesdaOnline: All passenger cars, including locally-manufactured, assembled and imported, have been singled out as “susceptible to monopolies” by the Competition Council, subject to the latest notice by the council and banned from sale via the IME.

News ID: ۷۵۲۲۳۴

07 February 2023

All domestic car companies must from now sell through the national online car ordering portal, sale.iranecar.com, the so-called National Competition Council said Monday.

In the past few months some companies had been allowed to offer limited models via the Iran Mercantile Exchange, which apparently led to controversy and complaints reported in the local press and social media.

Defending its unexpected decision, the council said monopoly in the chaotic domestic car market has increased. “The high Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), rising demand in the market, the ban and/or restriction of car imports over the past several years plus limited options for car buyers” has made a bad situation worse pushing up car prices to historic highs.