Eurasia Press & News
Iran is scheduled to start export of the latest model of its home-manufactured passenger car ‘Samand’ to 32 different countries, said Manouchehr Manteqi, Managing Director of Iran-Khodro car manufacturing company, manufacturer of Samand passenger car. Manteqi reminded that the said 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 in the next five months, 1,200 of which would be exported to the aforementioned countries.
Exports start in ten days, he said, describing Suren as the “superior generation of Samand”.
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).
‘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.
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Syria, Vietnam, Venezuela and China are among the many world countries which either have asked for or are already assembling this popular Middle-Class automobile.
Meanwhile, 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 South Asian markets and the competitive advantage that Iran enjoys, Iran-Khodro can gain a foothold in these 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.
Earlier Croatian Ambassador to Tehran said 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.
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.
