EghtesadOnline: The auto industry faces scrutiny on multiple fronts as car prices spike in Iran, with the bullish market observing a 10% price increase only in recent weeks.

EghtesadOnline: After the public outrage over soaring prices of locally manufactured cars prodded the Iranian Parliament to summon the directors of Iran's largest automotive companies and the deputy minister of industries, during a hearing on Sunday makers and government officials tried to vindicate the latest market developments.

EghtesadOnline: Authorities are set to ratify new car prices for models costing under 450 million rials ($10,700) in the early days of June.

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s midrange auto sector is seeing sudden hike in prices of locally produced and assembled models soon after prices of imported vehicles jumped over the past few months.

EghtesadOnline: Cumbersome regulations imposed by the government on the one hand and unbridled prices charged by voracious auto importers on the other are set to impose new costs on customers.

EghtesadOnline: The Competition Council has permitted domestic automakers to raise the prices of some cars, while there is no logical explanation behind such a decision, a council member said.

EghtesadOnline: The Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, has called for promoting the role of the free market in determining auto prices.

EghtesadOnline: Iran's auto market was last month watched in astonishment by jittery customers and bewildered citizens in the face of skyrocketing prices. In order to redress the volatile situation and put in check the spiraling uptrend which had driven car prices to unprecedented highs, the country's two largest carmakers launched extensive sales of vehicles in the past few days.