Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

As many as 40 orders were placed for Khazar cars manufactured at the joint Azerbaijani-Iranian plant in the Neftchala industrial zone, Emin Akhundov, chairman of the Board of AzerMash, told journalists on June 8.

He said that the first customers are government structures – Ministries of Economy, Energy and Taxes. To date, the plant has manufactured about 100 Khazar cars.

Akhundov added that the sales of cars will begin already early next week. At the initial stage there will be two models – Khazar SD and Khazar LD. They will be sold in three sales centers in Baku.

The base price for Khazar SD will be 16,000 manats ($9,384), and for Khazar LD – 18,000 manats ($10,557).

Akhundov noted that it will also be possible to lease the cars with an initial payment of 20 percent or through a loan with an initial payment of 50 percent. The annual payment will be 18 percent.

It is noteworthy that all cars produced at the plant meet the Euro-5 standards.

Akhundov also said that the joint Azerbaijani-Iranian car plant plans to produce about 2,000 cars until the end of this year. In general, the plant plans to manufacture eight models of Khazar cars as well as Peugeot and Renault.

“The prices for cars manufactured will vary at 14,000-20,000 manats ($8,211-11,730). In the future, if we decide to establish production of car parts, the price may drop by 12-13 percent,” he mentioned.

It is also planned to produce models with automatic transmission. In general, the monthly production at the plant at the initial stage will be 160 cars, Akhundov noted.

Iran Khodro and subsidiary of AzerMash AzEuroCar LLC signed an agreement on August 6, 2016, on the establishment of a joint automobile plant in the Neftchala Industrial Park. The total cost of the project is estimated at $14.08 million. Azerbaijan invested 75 percent of the funds, while Iran invested 25 percent.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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