NCRI – Bosses at the Pars Khodro car plant in Iran are forcing employees to take two days off a week as unpaid vacation as the company lurches into financial crisis.
Pars Khodro is the third largest automobile manufacturer in Iran and the first to make sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Today, it builds Renault and Nissan models under license and since 2006 it has been manufacturing the Dacia Logan and Renault Megane under license.
The automotive industry is the second biggest in the country, after its oil and gas industry, but like many Iranian manufacturing giants it is suffering from soaring costs and a massive slump in consumer demand.