Daimler Trucks to Return to Iran With Production, Sales Accords
Daimler AG reached preliminary agreements to restart sales and local production of trucks in Iran as the lifting of global trade sanctions opens the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation to European investments.
Daimler Trucks will cooperate with Iran Khodro Co., the country’s biggest auto producer, on engines and powertrains, and plans to reinvest in the companies’ diesel-engine venture, the German manufacturer said in a statement. Under a second accord, Mammut Group will distribute vehicles from Daimler’s Mitsubishi Fuso unit.
“There is a huge demand for commercial vehicles, especially trucks,” Wolfgang Bernhard, head of Daimler’s truck and bus business, said in the statement. “We plan to quickly resume our business activities in the market there.”
Daimler, the world’s largest maker of commercial vehicles, dropped business in Iran in 2010 amid international sanctions against the country’s nuclear-research program, and it’s one of many multinational companies eager to return following a mid-2015 settlement.
Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi said Jan. 16 that the government agreed to buy 114 Airbus Group SE airliners, and a state official said it may also order planes from Boeing Co.
The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded on Jan. 16 that the Islamic Republic had curbed its ability to develop an atomic weapon as required under an accord in July with world powers. The United States and five other nations agreed to lift economic sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program.
A resumption of exports at the pre-sanctions levels of a decade ago may generate an additional 4.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion) in revenue for German companies, analysts at Deutsche Bank AG estimated in July.
