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Iran Khodro

Type	Public
Founded	1962 by Ahmad Khayami and Mahmoud Khayami
Headquarters	Tehran, Iran
Key people	Javad Najmuddin CEO
Industry	Automotive
Products	Automobiles Trucks
Revenue	▲ USD $10 billion (2009)[1]
Net income	▲ USD $560 million (2005)
Employees	58,000 (2005)
Website	ikco.com

IKCO or Iran Khodro Company (or Iran Khodro Industrial Group) is the largest automobile producer in Iran. Founded in 1962 by members of the Khayami family, the company's original name was Iran National.

Contents 1 History and development 1.1 Founding 1.2 Structure 1.3 Size and production 1.4 Certification 1.5 Products and relationships 2 Passenger car range 3 Future plans 3.1 Models currently under development 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] History and development

[edit] Founding

Iran Khodro was founded with registered capital of 100,000,000 Rls. on 18 August 1962 by Aliakbar Khayami, Ahmad Khayami, Mahmoud Khayami, Marzieh Khayami, and Zahra Seyedi Rashti in Ekbatan Street in Tehran.

[edit] Structure

Iran Khodro (IKCO) is a public joint stock company with the objective of creation and management of factories to manufacture various types of vehicles and parts as well as selling and exporting them. IKCO produces vehicles under 11 brand names.^[2]

[edit] Size and production

The company has become the largest vehicle manufacturer in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa^[3]. In Iran, it is the largest vehicle manufacturing company, having an average share of 65 percent of domestic vehicle production.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, IKCO broke its own production record by producing 111,111 units of various passenger cars and vans. By 2006 Iran Khodro was producing 550,000 vehicles (for the Iranian year 1384, starting on 21 March 2006).

The opening of the country’s largest car assembly plant in Khorassan in July 2008 is expected to increase capacity with the ability to turn out 100,000 vehicles per annum by late 2009. However, it will not necessarily increase production. Export opportunities are restricted to relatively low volumes ($60 million worth of cars were exported in 2007).^[4]

Iran Khodro Wagon Factory in Abhar, Zanjan Province was inaugurated in 2008 and will manufacture 200 rail bus, urban subway, urban light train and monorail wagons, saving $300 million each year on imports.^[5]

[edit] Certification

Iran Khodro has qualified for ISO 9001 from RW-TUV, Germany, as well as many other health, safety, and environment certificates including ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.^[6]

[edit] Products and relationships

Iran Khodro produces Iran's first "national car", the Samand, which is based on the Peugeot 405 platform. The firm has a long-term relationship with PSA Peugeot Citroën, and assembles a number of Peugeot models under licence from the French firm. In 2009, Peugeot 206, Peugeot Pars, Peugeot 405, Peugeot Roa, and Samand sedans were IKCO's export-bound cars sent to Iraq, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Syria and Afghanistan.^[7]

It also makes trucks and buses under license from Mercedes-Benz.

For more than three decades, Iran Khodro produced the Paykan, a car developed from the Rootes Group's Rootes Arrow range, best known as the Hillman Hunter. Paykan saloon car production was discontinued in 2005, almost thirty years after the end of Arrow production (latterly as the Chrysler Hunter) in Britain. A pick-up version is still in production.^[8]

In a joint-venture with Daimler AG, Iran Khodro is soon to start production of sophisticated 900-class Mercedes-Benz engines; Daimler states that Iranian-made engines will be exported to Germany. ^{[9] [10]}

[edit] Passenger car range

• Samand; the "Iranian national car". Codenamed X7 during development, and based on the 405 platform. Price starting at $9,000.^[11]
• Samand LX; a modified version of the basic Samand with better equipment and better outlook
• Samand Sarir; a longer bodied Samand with enhanced equipment (unveiled in 2006)
• Samand Soren a new model of Samand (unveiled in 2008) Iran's first passenger car achieving Euro III emission standard and with a new more efficient Engine Management System.^[12]
• Samand Soren ELX; A new model of Samand Soren which has lots of changes applied to it compared to its main model "Samand Soren" like safety featues such as passenger air bag, 3-point seatbelts for rear passengers. It is powered by the most powerful Iranian national Engine (EF7 Turbo Charged Engine) which can produce 156hp with 210 N-m of torque. Its engine has passed Euro IV emission standard and it can pass the Euro V emission standard if some changes are applied to the engine. It offers new technologies like using Nanotechnology for cloth of its seats and the dashboard and many other parts of it.
• Runna; IKCO's second "National Car"/all Iran-made car. Codenamed X12 during development and based on the modified 206 SD platform.
• Peugeot 206; a saloon version of the 206, the Peugeot 206 SD has also been recently co-developed with Peugeot
• Peugeot 405; available in saloon trims GLi and GLX and estate trim GLX
• Peugeot Pars; initially called the Peugeot Persia. Changes include a redesigned front and modernised rear
• Peugeot RD; chassis and drivetrain are similar to the older Paykan but the outer body shell and appearance resemble a 405
• Peugeot 407; As CBU(About 2000 are imported to Iran)
• Suzuki Grand Vitara
• 207i; According to ther agreement between IKCO and Peugeot, the Iranian company will name it 207i. The car production will be lunched in January 2010.^[13]
• Dacia Logan; Both IKCO and SAIPA produce the car as "Tondar90"
• Peugeot ROA; modified version of Peugeot RD
• Mercedes Benz E-class^[14]

[edit] Future plans

10 Year strategic plan

• Automotive manufacturer in the world class
• Developing strategic union and partnership in investment with global automotive market leaders
• Capable of competition with emerging car producers in the region via designing and developing various products
• The most suitable automotive industry station in the region for extension of investment in the related scopes
• Global partnership

7 year strategic plan

• Return and sustain the position of the largest vehicle manufacturer in the region
• Competition advantages in product design and development
• Continuous improvement in productivity, quality and technology
• Developing domestic suppliers and manufacturing stations
• Acquisition and develop the manufacturing capabilities in product design, development and production

Heading of Strategies of Iran Khodro Industrial Group

• Product’s development and variation strategies
• Export marketing and global competitive strategies
• Constitution, production and supply chain collections strategies
• Research, development and innovation strategies
• Quality advancement strategies
• Manpower strategies
• Electromotive force fuel, environment, safety and Industrial health
• Purposive cost Management strategies
• Communication development and Information technology strategies
• Financial and investment strategies

Mass objectives of Iran Khodro company in 2007

• Preservation and development of domestic market share
• Export increment
• Customer satisfaction indicative increase
• Share profit rate increase

In July 2008 Iran Khodro's CEO Manouchehr Manteqi announced the Iranian auto giant's goal of designing and mass producing more national cars, in the forthcoming years.

[edit] Models currently under development

• Second generation of "Samand"
• Popular car for Islamic countries
• Two saloons currently under joint development with Peugeot

In October 2008 IKCO announced that it would start producing a car specially designed for women, though no date was given for its availability.^[15]

In 2010 Iran Khodro is expected to unveil and produce:

• A new van
• A new model of Samand

In 2011/12 IKCO is expected to unveil and produce:

• A second new van (heavy)
• A new model of Samand with IKCO's first Diesel-engine
• Peugeot 405 with IKCO's first Diesel-engine
• IKCO's first luxury car

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of Iranian companies
• Iran Khodro Diesel

[edit] External links

• Iran Khodro Industrial Group
• Iran Khodro's Peugeot 206 to be exported to 30 countries
• Iran Khodro News