The Managing Director of Iran giant car manufacturing company, Iran-Khodro Industrial Group said on Wednesday that the share of company in the region automobile markets is on the rise.
According to Iran-Khodro Public Relations Department, Manuchehr Manteqi referred to the successful signing of agreements for exports and launching of "Samand" assembly lines in several regional countries.
Manteqi said that initial efforts have been prepared for the company's production to enter the Russian car market. He said that Iran-Khodro has been able to obtain 11 different Russian standards for Samand as well as receiving permits for exports of Peugeot 206 recently.
Several Samand assembly lines will also be inaugurated in Syria in the next few months, he added.
Other nations with which Iran-khodro has entered into talks or has inked contracts for setting up assembly lines are Venezuela, Egypt, Senegal and Azerbaijan republic, Manteqi underlined.
He noted that the company aims at capturing 30 percent of Syrian and Persian Gulf markets. "With some countries we have signed contracts for export of 6,000-7,000 cars by the end of the current year (March 20)." He added that the value of Iran-Khodro's exports to Syria would amount to about US$40 million which is about 10-fold compared to the previous year.
Iran Khodro will deliver 4,000 light and heavy vehicles to Syria by March, making it the second major car exporter to the Arab country, Samand' production line will also be set up in suburban Damascus by this fall.
Iran's major car producer has said if all go according to plan, the conglomerate predicts over 200 million dollars worth of car exports in the year to March 2006.
