Every motorized country has a symbolic car that is viewed as the emblem of its thriving auto industry. In Germany it was the Volkswagen; in America, the Cadillac; in South Korea, the Kia; and in Japan, the Toyota. Iran, too, has its own iconic car: the Paykan, which means “arrow.” Based on the defunct British Hillman Hunter, it was first exported to Iran in 1967. The homely Paykan fell far short of the world-class Japanese or German automobile standards, but for many Iranians, it stands as a symbol of their aspirations to acquire industrial development. Paykan has since been joined by much more sophisticated national cars such as Samand and Dena. Not only do they appear on the streets of Tehran or Isfehan, but also those of Caracas, Moscow and Baghdad. Paykan, once regarded as the harbinger of an economy dominated by the inefficient public-sector industries, has now become the symbol of a blossoming auto industry worldwide. Successfully producing 1.4 million vehicles in 2011, Iran’s auto industry became the world’s 12th largest automotive manufacturer. This ranking has placed Iran’s automobile industry above some countriesin the Global North such as United Kingdom (13th) and Italy (24th). With thousands of engineers designing national vehicles, the auto industry is the second largest sector in the economy outside of oil and offers a huge chunk of employment opportunity to Iran’s young population.
Although the rise of auto industry in Iran has been astonishing, so too is its recent crash since the latest round of sanctions on Iran’s central bank in 2011. Automobile production nationwide dropped by 40 percent in 2013 alone. The industry has since fallen to the 21stlargest in the world. The recent economic sanctions, especially those that targeted Iran’s central bank, struck the country’s industrial might with a heavy blow.