Comments on: Update on Life in Iran

By: saeed

saeed — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:01:09 +0000

the importing tax for a car is 90% of its original price plus about 3000 USD for its plate.
typically a 2008 BMW 630i costs about 190,000 USD and a 2008 C class mercedes starts from 120,000 USD. a S class mercedes (which plenty of them are available here) costs about a Ferrari or Lamburghini in Europe or US. all of these cars are sold in cash (no leasing).
the fuel price is a little more than half a dollar for these cars per liter. the total number of cars imported in 2008 is about 200,000 showing a 200% growth comparing to 2007.

By: shahin

shahin — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:38:08 +0000

The love of my life lives in tehran

By: ddmmyyyy (UK & Iran)

ddmmyyyy (UK & Iran) — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 09:55:26 +0000

Yeah the iTunes thing is odd – my guess is that it is blocked.

I’ve noted that YouTube is selectively blocked on one of the ISPs I use – typing in words like “celebrity” triggers the MASSIVE exclamation mark in a yellow triangle.

And the Mercs, BMWs, Prados etc are truly helping the Iranian desire to be conspicuously one step ahead… but they do pay a huge tariffs for the pleasure- one only hopes that money circulates well.

Lastly, the war drums are getting louder and it seems the media are doing well in promoting it:

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5441&edition=2

By: Sadaf

Sadaf — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 07:59:12 +0000

Thanks Esther for the news, was a brilliant well briefed follow up on the issues.

and about Ashoura in Iran, I think there have rarely been any self flagellation in Iran, but surely Iraq has seen a full scale Ashoura this year(Such commemorations were banned under Saddam Hussein’s rule). I have seen pictures of kids under 12 years old, slicing their sculps with blades, practicing the ritual of Tetbir as the caption described!!!which I have no idea wether is of any meaning to an Iranian Shie.

By: Edo River

Edo River — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 05:30:47 +0000

I appreciate any news out of that state of mind

By: Arash (Iran)

Arash (Iran) — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 23:19:03 +0000

Esra’a
That’s because the Iranian car companies can not compete with foreign companies, both in terms of price and quality.

By: Arash (Iran)

Arash (Iran) — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 23:18:02 +0000

Great!

By: Esra'a

Esra'a — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 17:39:27 +0000

Great update as usual.

I hope to be more communicative in the coming weeks!

Me too!

By the way,

The taxes on importing cars are super-high.

Why is this so? When I visited Tehran very briefly, my friend Minoo said that if you see a fancy car it means the owner has a lot of money to spare, because only the very rich can afford to import such cars. But I’m not sure why? Does it have to do with encouraging others to buy cars that are made or “approved” by Iran?