If you’re wondering if the renewal of American sanctions on Iran is having an effect, apparently the answer is Yes. But is it what the Administration wants? Mohsen Shariatinia has the story for AL Monitor:
An H30-Cross from an Iranian dealership site. Looks like a Western SUV, doesn’t it?
As Iran’s auto industry is grappling with a multifaceted crisis, there are signs that China’s nascent carmakers may step in to become part of the solution.
The US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the impending reimposition of sanctions have not only caused a currency crisis in Iran but also led French automakers such as Peugeot and Renault to leave the Iranian market, creating a shortage of parts. …
Iran Khodro, the country’s largest car manufacturer, recently issued a note to its representatives around the country, requesting that they introduce China’s H30 Cross as a substitute for the French Renault Tondar to customers. The measure was likely in response to Renault’s recent decision to halt all cooperation with Iranian automakers in the coming months. Similar withdrawals by Western automakers in the coming months could herald the beginning of engagement between Iranian automakers and their Chinese counterparts in a bid to reduce the impact of the ongoing crisis. Indeed, if the latter pans out, it has the potential of turning Chinese automakers into a key player in the Iranian market.
Allying the Chinese with the Iranians will make the job of containing the more pathological Iranians in the future a delicate task. This is true only if the Chinese are successful, though, as Shariatinia points out:
Chinese products are generally associated with items of poor quality. In the auto industry, too, Iranians generally refer to Chinese vehicles as “China Cars” in a derogatory manner, referring to them as fragile and subpar in quality.
I’ve gotta wonder if the Iranians have come up with a worse epithet for the Americans than The Great Satan.
