PSA Expects Its Sales in Iran Will Top 150,000 Units This Year

PSA Group, which relaunched car shipments to Iran earlier this year, says its sales should top 150,000 Peugeot brand vehicles by the end of 2016 and double that volume in 2017.

PSA’s overall sales in Iran peaked at 458,000 units in 2011 when the country’s car market reached a record 1.6 million units. But sanctions imposed in 2012 by the West over Iran’s nuclear policy blocked PSA and others from operating there. Reuters notes that Chinese carmakers, who were not impacted by the boycott, have since gained market share.

In January PSA’s Peugeot brand announced a €400 million plan to revive its 50:50 venture with Iran Khodro. The five-year initiative aims to resume local production in the second half of 2017 at a pace of as much as 100,000 vehicles annually. Reuters notes that the carmaker’s Citroen brand resumed its 50-year-old partnership with SAIPA in July.