The Evaluation of Profit Margin in Iran's Automotive Industry (Based on the Hall- Roeger Approach)

US auto-making industry began with Ford. This industry was developed better in America than in Europe. Some automobiles entered Iran in the early 1920s. Iran had to withdraw foreign currency and import cars due to inability to manufacture automobiles. Auto-making industry is the center of interest and competition of many countries and international corporations due to its critical role in the lives of people, extraordinary profitability, employment, and extensive turnover. The industry is of great importance due to having a profound link with other economic and industrial sectors and being the world's most advanced technology. Auto-making industry is one of the most important industries to create value-added in the economy of every country. This research aimed to study Iran's auto market power. Various models have been proposed to assess the market power including Perloff and Shen, Twomey and Green, static Bresn and Leo, dynamic Bresn and Leo, Colling and Presston, Panzer and Rosse, Hall, Roeger, Boon, Iwata, Azzam, Appelbaum, and Phophana. In this study, we employed Hall-Roeger Model in order to calculate the Lerner Index and Mark-Up and assess the market power of Iranian passenger cars.
A look at Iran Khodro Co. showed that it manufactured 756669 passenger cars in 2011, accounting for 42.57% of market share. The comparison with the manufacture in 2001 revealed that the manufacture of Iran Khodro Co. accounted for almost 61% of market share (225483 passenger cars). In 2011, the exports of Iran Khodro Co. were almost 18% of total Iranian car exports. It was, however, 5% in 2001. SAIPA manufactured almost 656505 passenger cars in 2011, accounting for almost 36.94% of the total production of Iran. However, it manufactured almost 28.21% of total production in 2001. Lerner Index was employed to investigate the profitability of companies. Greater Lerner Index shows higher profitability. The greatest Lerner index belongs to Kish Khodro Co. (0.787) followed by Morattab Khodro (0.771) and Kerman Motor Co. (0.672). SAIPA has the minimum Lerner index (0.219). Companies which assemble the cars have greater Lerner Index and profitability.
In this article, we used the generalized Hall-Roeger approach to calculate the Lerner Index and Mark-Up for 7 Iranian carmakers from 2000 to 2007. The calculations showed that the greatest Lerner Index belonged to Kish Khodro (0.787), Morattab Khodro (0.771), and Kerman Motor (0.672). The lowest Lerner Index belonged to SAIPA (0.219). Mark-Up was as follows: Kish Khodro (4.7), Morattab Khodro (4.37), Kerman Motor (3.05), and SAIPA (1.28). Greater Mark-Up shows greater profitability coefficient of company. It shows that companies involved in assembly of passenger cars had greater profit margin compared to passenger car manufacturers. Since Lerner Index is greater for Kish Khodro, Morattab Khodro, and Kerman Motor, the National Iranian Competition Center is required to consider an appropriate model for pricing and profit margin by analyzing the structure of costs in these firms.