Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi: The automotive industry in Iran has survived through the force of monopoly and import bans.
Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the former Minister of Communications, wrote on his Telegram channel that the automotive industry in Iran has survived due to the force of monopoly and import bans, with its costs being paid by the lives and wealth of the people.
From the policymakers’ perspective, the reason for bearing and imposing these costs is likely the undeniable role of this industry in national production and employment.
One of the narrow pathways for reviving the automotive industry in Iran was the gradual phasing out of exclusive production of fossil fuel vehicles, gradually liberalizing their imports, and focusing on an entrepreneurial approach to producing electric vehicles by restructuring the automotive industry and making it competitive. Traces of this policy were sometimes seen in the statements of Mr. Ali Abadi, the current Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade, which are currently being undermined by the allocation of a mere two billion euros to an Eastern construction company for the market of 2,500 electric buses for the city of Tehran.
Mr. Mirsalim’s silence on this matter is also interesting.
