Car enthusiasts had made a 600 million rials ($14,285) down payment on May 16 when SAIPA-Citroen launched a limited presale of the model, offering 2,000 of its long-awaited C3 to the public.
Local automotive website Asbe Bokhar on Monday published a post reporting that customers have been instructed to make the rest of the payment by July 17 and expect the cars to be delivered by late November. Later in the day, the same news website published a response from SAIPA-Citroen indicating that the "official statement" has been a fake circulating on social media platforms.
The fate of the popular hatchback has been surrounded by uncertainty as US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the historic 2015 Iran nuclear deal and ensuing sanctions have called into question Citroen's operations in Iran, according to Financial Tribune.
While Citroen's parent company PSA Group has announced that due to the imposition of the upcoming sanctions it has been forced to suspend its Iran operations, the carmaker will make good on its current obligations and deliver the 2,000 presold C3s.
SAIPA and PSA's brand Citroen signed a 50-50 joint venture in late 2016 under which the Paris-based carmaker had undertaken to invest more than €300 million ($352 million) in Iran during the next five years. In addition to C3, another Citroen model, namely C4, was supposed to be manufactured in Iran.
The C3 is a small hatchback produced in the central city of Kashan, which is equipped with a six-speed automatic gearbox and a 1.6-liter turbo four-cylinder engine with a 163hp output.
It meets Euro 5 emission standards and was initially unveiled in 2002 in France. The latest version of the car, which was introduced in 2016, was offered in Iran.