The company on its website says it had a remarkably successful online presale. The presale was launched on Wednesday 10 am local time. According to Pars Khodro website, each person could purchase one car and the presold cars will be delivered in October and November.
However, as is customary with online auto sales in Iran, the public made complaints about access to the website. Customers went through a similar ordeal last September for the sale of the same model, when Pars Khodro’s website crashed within minutes after launch.
This time, users were greeted with an error that said they must revisit the website in 15 minutes to buy the car, according to Financial Tribune.
Users kept seeing this error until a message “We have reached full registration capacity” appeared on the website.
While Pars Khodro has set the price for the Sandero Stepway with automatic transmission at 560 million rials ($12,500), the car cannot be found in the market for less than 660 million rials ($14,700).
Observers say that the 20% gap is indicative of the involvement of middlemen in the purchase of the 7,500 cars sold within hours. For long local carmakers have always been accused of insider trading.
Reza Shiva, head of the Competition Council said on Thursday that he will send a letter to car manufacturers to follow up on the yawning gap in factory and market price of vehicles.
He had previously called on car producers to bridge the price gap for cars below 400 million rials ($8,900).
The Competition Council is a state body that seemingly keeps an eye on many domestically-produced items including cars.