Commercial, cargo, and vehicles with specialized uses are usually included in the market classification of heavy vehicles. Ambulances, fire trucks, and other vehicles with special purposes are covered in this piece, which is written with Iraq’s impending invasion in mind.
In order to better understand the country of Iraq and due to its geopolitical conditions – the activity of the Kurdistan sector in an autonomous manner – the policies and conditions in this market should be examined from two aspects of the activity of the southern regions of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and in this article, an attempt is made in different ways.
Commercial vehicles include a wide range of cargo vehicles, from vans to flatbed trucks and trailers, each of which is suitable for the potential and needs of the market to carry different weights of cargo.
In line with the focus of the policies of the southern part of Iraq, based on supporting domestic production and creating opportunities for investors, the Ministry of Commerce established GAMCO and SCAI organizations. The purpose of creating these organizations is to create a production line of heavy commercial vehicles and assembly of cars inside Iraq, and many companies, including Toyota, Hyundai, Scania, have welcomed this plan.
However, most of the commercial vehicles used in Iraq are imported, and it should be noted that a large number of cars imported to this country are second-hand. According to the policies of the European Union to remove commercial vehicles from the cycle after 5 years of production, the Iraqi market is considered one of the main destinations of many of these vehicles, and most of these vehicles are imported from Turkey.
One of Turkey’s advantages is being located on the Europe-Middle East route, and another feature is that the cars are imported to Kurdistan customs upon entering Iraq, and due to the favorable administrative order and low corruption of the local government, there will be easier conditions for importers. So that even some importers who imported their cars from Kuwait and Basra used to go to this area to have their cars numbered. Considering that most of the cars are purchased directly from the market of the country of origin (new and second-hand cars), therefore, Turkey acts more as a place of transit and does not play an important role in marketing and selling products.
The commercial vehicle market can be classified based on the two factors of the vehicle’s weight and its performance, and in this way, the Iraqi market is divided into two parts; New cars, which are mainly limited to the light car market, and second-hand heavy cars, whose customers are mainly drivers who cannot afford expensive cars and do not consider it economical.
It is noteworthy that the owners of heavy vehicles are more accepting of European brands. The lack of serious implementation of the law prohibiting overloading in Iraq and loading more than the capacity of the car has caused the consumer to place great importance on two features, the high engine capacity and the high resistance of the chassis of these brands. However, it should be pointed out that with the implementation of the TIR treaty and the opening of Iraqi borders for the transit of goods from other countries, the standards of this sector of the market may change, and with more government supervision and the application of the overload law, invoices Engine power and durable chassis lose their importance and old Iraqi trucks need to be updated compared to new cars in neighboring countries.
As a result, it can be concluded that the main customers of new heavy vehicles are government companies and public organizations that have the desire and sufficient funds to complete their fleet with new vehicles, and therefore, the majority of the market for this vehicle in Iraq is second-hand products. assigned But in the case of light cars, due to the fact that the use of these cars is in cities and short routes, and these cars usually do not bear pressure more than their nominal capacity, and also because these cars have a lower price than cars, that are heavy, the sales share of new cars is higher in them. In this area of the market, Asian car manufacturers have been able to sell their new products by providing updated technologies and cheaper vehicles.