Evidently, the Fiat Group has succumbed to international pressure to stop doing business in Iran, joining the ranks of other automakers like Porsche and Hyundai, both of which recently suspended sales in the country.
“Fiat supports the international efforts for a diplomatic solution of the issues relating to the relations with Iran,” the Italian company said in a statement.
“In this respect, Fiat announces that effective immediately its subsidiaries will no longer carry out business activity related to products or components where the ultimate destination of such products is known to be Iran, other than to the limited extent required to fulfill already existing binding obligations,” Fiat added.
Back in January, a non-profit, anti-Iran group in the States, blasted Jennifer Lopez for promoting the Fiat 500, because it claimed, the automaker continued to do business with the country.
“By endorsing Fiat, you are serving as a spokesperson for a company that freely does business with a regime that is developing an illegal nuclear weapons program, financing and sponsoring terrorist groups including al-Qaeda, has killed American and NATO soliders and is recognized as one of the world’s leading human rights violators,” said the United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) group in an open letter to Lopez.
According to a recent report from Bloomberg, sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the European Union on Iran have made importing cars increasingly difficult while vehicle prices have also sky rocketed making cars unobtainable for most people.
IHS Automotive predicts that cars sales in the country will drop around 10 percent this year.
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