Samand

Samand is Iran's national car, manufactured by Iran Khodro (IKCO) using local manufacturers for its parts.In Persian, "samand" is the name for a breed of fast horse.

Engine

The Samand is built on the Peugeot 405 platform, using the "XU7JP/L3" engine amongst others. The Peugeot 405 is also in production in Iran, along with a facelifted version, the Peugeot Pars. Iran Khodro's relationship with the French company PSA Peugeot Citroën began when they supplied XM7 engines (used in the Peugeot 504) along with the drivetrain for some models of the Paykan,Fact|date=February 2007 which itself was based on the Hillman Hunter. IKCO manufactures 80% of Samand's parts domestically.

From 2007, IKCO uses Iranian developed engines like dual-fuel national engine for his new models. The German company Bosch has also shown interest in assembling the Iranian engine under license.

Exports

Export of Samand to Russia, Bulgaria and Turkey began in 2006.IKCO is targeting Poland, U.A.E, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Egypt as export destinations in the future [cite news
url=http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-18/0806299422160901.htm
title= Iran Khodro to export 50% of output by 2016
publisher=IRNA
date=2008-06-20] .

Assembly lines

Samand has been also manufactured in Minsk, Belarus, by the Unison firm alongside Lublin vans since September 2006. Star company assembles Samand sedan in Azerbaijan under the local name AzSamand Aziz.

Venirauto company started assembling Samand sedan (badged Centauro) in Venezuela from 2006.Siamco launched in March 2007 the assembly line of Samand (Samand Shaam) in Syria. Iran Khodro also plans to assemble the Samand in Egypt, China and Senegal in joint ventures in the future.

ee also

* List of Iranian cars

External links

* [http://www.ikco.com Official website of Iran Khodro]
* [http://www.farhangsara.com/cars/paykanx7.htm Samand data]
* [http://www.iranmania.com/News/Photoes/General/Top/330samand.jpgPhoto of the Samand]
* [http://www.payvand.com/news/06/feb/1054.html IRNA news report about Samand assembly in Belarus]
* [http://www.payvand.com/news/05/nov/1017.html News report about the Samand's dual fuel engine]
* [http://www.samand-russia.ru/index.php Club Samand in Russia]
* [http://www.star.az/modules/news/ Star - AzSamand]
* [http://www.evsengroup.az/en/automobile.html Evsen Group - AzSamand Aziz]
* [http://www.venirauto.com Venirauto /Samand Venezuela]
* [http://www.samandclub.com Samand Club Bulgaria]

References