Jaguar Land Rover enters Iran with local distributor deal despite 100% tax

By bne IntelliNews April 12, 2017

British-operated, Indian-owned Jaguar-Land Rover has arrived on the Iranian automotive market. It held a celebratory event at the British embassy in the Iranian capital on April 11.

Despite the 100%-import tax that is levied on sales of “luxury cars” imported into Iran, SUV and crossover sales have exploded in the country in the past two years. Chinese car companies like Chery, JAC and Lifan have led the way with low-cost models.

According to a representative from the announced Iranian distributor of Jaguar-Land Rover vehicles, Ravanro Khodro, vehicles will be imported from the UK in three months.

According to the order sheet, the company will only import vehicles under 2.5 litres; these models included Jaguar XJ, XF and F-Pace and Land Rover Evoque, New Discovery and Sport.

The full-size Range Rover is not included on the list due to engine size issues.

It was previously reported that the British car company would enter the market with Hyundai’s representative, the Gerami Group.

The automaker also has the dealership rights for China’s Geely; however, in recent months the doors of the Chinese brand’s flagship showroom in north Tehran have been shuttered.

The Jaguar-Land Rover vehicles are set to be priced between IRR2.5 to 4bn ($72,000-$115,000).

Two years ago British sportscar manufacturer Lotus started shipping a limited run of Elise models to Iran.

An Iranian company was producing the Type Two Land Rover Defender model, under license from Spain’s Santana Group, but production halted in 2015 for unpublicised reasons.

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