SAIPA's Pride compact sedan is the least-expensive domestically produced car in Iran, and thus affordable to most middle-class Iranians. It entered the Iranian market in 1993 under license from South Korea’s Kia Motors. Affordability is not the only thing the SAIPA Pride is known for. Described by drivers as "moving coffins," Prides are notorious for their low-quality standards and make up a significant number of road accidents in a country among the top on the global list of road fatalities.
Amid recent inflation in Iran because of the devaluation of the national currency — a crisis partly blamed on the reimposition of US sanctions — vehicle prices have risen at an unprecedented rate. But the increasing price of Prides has especially raised eyebrows. Since early August, prices on the open market have jumped by a skyrocketing 50%, hitting 430 million rials ($10,212). The official factory rate is still nearly fixed, standing at 240 million rials ($5,700), but that is an impossible purchase as buyers have to seek the product from middlemen and car dealers.
