BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/05/2008

Iran Khodro Expands Global Reach

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran Khodro Company, the country's largest vehicle manufacturer, continues to expand its regional and global reach. The automaker is opening a plant in Syria in April and readying a new plant in Turkey for 2009.

IKCO, as the largest automaker in the Middle-East, is also ramping up exports as it builds a global presence outside Iran which is one of the largest auto markets in the Middle East.

The company builds more than half a million vehicles a year, and officials have said they want to boost annual production to more than a million vehicles and hike exports to more than 600,000 by 2016.

The Syrian plant has a modest annual capacity of 5,000 units. The Turkey plant will supply markets in Russia and central Europe. IKCO in the past two years has also begun kit assemblies in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Venezuela and Argentina, with plans to add assembly in Egypt, Vietnam and China in the next year or two.

The vehicle of choice for most of these local assembly operations is the Samand, a compact sedan based heavily on the Peugeot 405 platform and with the price starting at about $9,000. "Samand" is the Persian name for a local breed of horse.

Market observers believe that Samand could challenge future Chinese and Indian imports at the low end of the market.

Iran Khodro is the largest carmaker in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa regions with annual production of more than one million various vehicles including cars, trucks and buses.

Samand trade name is now registered at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Iran-Khodro group, the Iranian car manufacturer and owner of Samand, is the first Iranian company whose product is registered at the WIPO.

The state will ensure against the fraudulent use of the name, industrial design, and copying of the product manufactured by the company worldwide.

Many other world countries, including Turkey, Bangladesh and Pakistan are considered as established importers of petrol and gas-powered Samand models with left and right-hand steering-wheels.

Marketing researches have shown that given the financial capability of European and South Asian markets and the competitive advantage that Iran enjoys, Iran-Khodro can gain a foothold in many world markets in a relatively short period of time.

The company has other automobile production ventures with foreign countries and companies in a bid to market share for increased exports to regional markets.

Croatian Ambassador to Tehran said last year that the people of East Europe are waiting for the Iranian-made passenger car 'Samand'.

She also said that after the launch of operation of Samand assembly line in Azerbaijan and Belarus, the manufacturing company, Iran-Khodro, now has better chances for gaining access to the CIS and East European markets.

According to the diplomat, Iran-Khodro officials have announced that they would soon start exports of Samand to Poland, while the company is now studying other East European markets, including Romania and the republics of former Yugoslavia.

Iran started export of the latest model of Samand to 32 different countries in autumn 2007.

Manouchehr Manteqi, Managing Director of Iran-Khodro Car Manufacturing Company, recently stated that the above-mentioned countries are among customers of Iran-Khodro, which have imported Samand LX and GLX before, adding that his company has planned to manufacture 8,000 Samand Suren till May, 1,200 of which would be exported to the aforementioned countries.

Samand Suren, Iran's first passenger car achieving Euro III emission standard, rolled off the assembly line several months ago.

Aside from reducing its exhaust gas pollutants, the fuel consumption of the sedan has also been cut, and as a result of the modifications made to the new models of Samand, particularly its Engine Management System (EMS), the engine performance has been significantly enhanced.

Better drive ability, knock reduction and improvement in the engine's power output are cited as other changes made to the earlier model, according to the company officials.

Manteqi said Iran-Khodro has plans to export 600,000 cars and USD10 bln worth of products by 2016.

"To achieve this goal, we have decided to double our exports," he continued.

Manteqi said that Iran-Khodro's exports amounted to USD150 mln and USD315 mln in 2005 and 2006, respectively, adding that his company will export USD600 mln worth of products in the current Iranian year (ending on March 20th, 2008).

The company has other products including different models of Peugeot.

Last year, the Iran government announced plans to develop a new model aimed specifically at Islamic markets in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, in cooperation with local partners in Malaysia and Turkey. With IKCO as the lead manufacturer on the project, the car is slated to begin production in 2011 and is being designed to sell for under $10,000.

Iran, in cooperation with Malaysia and Turkey, is due to make a car for the Islamic markets, in particular, and the rest of the world, in general. According to Manteqi, the assembly line for the production of the said car will launch operation in 2011.

Manteqi said Islamic countries would be behind all the investment and production.

"Each Islamic country can order the additional equipment based on its own needs. In addition to Islamic countries, this car is capable of being presented in all global markets," Manteqi said.

Manteqi said his firm, which produced more than 525,000 cars and pick-up trucks in 2006/07, was chosen by the Organization of The Islamic Conference (OIC) to lead the project.

This car will be sold for about 6,000 to 8,000 Euros. He said the main target markets would be in Africa, the Middle East and southeast Asia.

Source:

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8702281488

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