Russia and Iran may join forces to produce cars

Cooperation between Russia and Iran in the automotive sector can be multi-level and include both the exchange of technologies and the expansion of sales markets, as well as bilateral investments. This opinion was expressed to the Iranian news agency AkharinKhabar by the expert Amirhasan Kakai, on whose opinion, the Logan-90 project can become the starting point for cooperation.

As Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes, we are talking about the production of a modernized version of the first generation Renault Logan. The pre-reform version called the Renault Tondar L90 was produced in Iran from 2007 to 2019 until the tightening of the US sanctions against Tehran. Iran's second largest automaker, SAIPA, is now planning to assemble an improved car on the B0 platform with a large amount of imported components. To do this, SAIPA plans to receive 1.6 and 1.8 hp VAZ engines from Russia. As a transmission, it is planned to use a 5-speed SAIPA 5F18 gearbox, which is an adapted version of the Renault JHQ mechanics SAIPA and is used in the Iranian SAIPA Shahin car. It is not excluded that the new generation SAIPA Tondar will be supplied to the Russian market as well. Also, as Amirhasan Kakai said, Iranian suppliers of auto components have the opportunity to export their products to Russia and solve the problem of the shortage of some spare parts and software that has arisen in the Russian market due to Western sanctions.