A campaign to boycott “sub-standard and expensive” Iranian-made cars has fired up social media in the Islamic republic, where its supporters have been accused of anti-revolutionary treason.
Iranians are turning to the internet to vent long-simmering dissatisfaction with a domestic car industry dominated by the producers Iran Khodro and Saipa.
Iran’s car makers “have put profit before their conscience”, wrote Vali, a user of the messaging service Telegram. “The lives of many have been lost to technical faults.”
Almost 20,000 people die on Iran’s roads each year, and police say faulty cars are partly to blame.
Although domestic vehicles have features such as airbags and anti-lock brakes, “the safety of these cars is not satisfactory”, the deputy police chief Eskandar Momeni was quoted as saying.
“This is because of a lack of competition and supervision in domestic manufacturing,” he said.
Iranian officials argue that domestically produced cars are cheaper than imported brands, and say the industry has created hundreds of thousands of jobs. “Creating and supporting campaigns not to buy cars is treason to the national interests,” the trade, mining and industry minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh was quoted as saying.
“This campaign is wrong and sinful and antirevolutionary, and it would inflict damage on the domestic economy,” he said, in remarks that sparked an online backlash.
“Imposing sub-standard, expensive and unexportable cars on the nation is treason to the people and Iran’s industry,” retorted the Twitter user Hassan Mostafavi.
Newspapers also reacted furiously to Mr Nematzadeh's comments, insisting that people had the right to choose not to buy Iranian cars. "The minister, of course, did not issue a verdict for the auto makers who with their low-quality products endanger the lives of people," the Ghanoon daily said.
Public pressure made Mehdi Jamali, the chief executive of Saipa, apologise to the public on television “for the low quality of our products in the past”.
“We have special plans to increase quality in production and support,” he said.
Most Iranian cars are based on foreign models that used to be brought in and assembled before sanctions were introduced.
Saipa’s Pride model is the cheapest Iranian car with a price tag of 200 million rials (Dh24,500) – about 22 times the monthly minimum wage.
Iran’s car production stood at 1.65 million vehicles in 2011, but after European and US sanctions hit there was a dramatic drop to about 740,000 in 2013. Production rose to 1.2 million last year.
Almost all foreign auto makers have left the country. France’s Renault continues to import parts and assemble cars in Tehran, but at a fraction of former output.
Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot are among those now interested in gaining a foothold in Iran.
Iranian manufacturers hope that the return of foreign partners will help them to increase production and improve quality.
Customs duties of up to 100 per cent for vehicle imports ensure that quality foreign cars are out of reach for most Iranians.
The auto expert Saeed Laylaz believes that the stagnant economy is to blame for difficulties in people affording cars.
“This campaign is baseless. It’s merely a reflection of the collapse of Iran’s economy,” he said.
People’s “hatred for auto makers” results from a long period of monopoly in the 1980s and ‘90s, Mr Laylaz said.
Car making is Iran’s No 2 industry after oil, accounting for up to 3 per cent of GDP and 12 per cent of jobs, he noted.
While taxes stand at 30 to 70 per cent for domestically produced cars Mr Laylaz said Iranians enjoy lower prices at the pump than those in many countries.
“Because the government cannot tax the fuel, like in European countries, for political and social reasons they tax the cars upfront,” he said.
“In the West, cars are cheap but fuel is expensive, while it’s vice versa in Iran.”
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