BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

31/05/2008

Iran Khodro to expand in Belarus

Iran Khodro Group will manufacture various vehicle models at a Belarus assembly plant during the second phase of the plants' operations.

By 2010, the plant's production capacity will increase to 120,000 vehicles per year, a move that will enable the Iran Khodro Group (IKCO) to export passenger cars to Central Asian countries and possibly to the European Union market, said Alexi Vagnaf, managing director of the largest auto and parts-making complex in Belarus.

"The first phase of the Belarus Samand was inaugurated in July of last year and after quality checks showed that the vehicles meet the latest European and North American standards, it was decided during the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Belarus to expand the capacity of the plant to120,000 vehicles per year in the second phase," IRIB quoted IKCO Managing Director, Manouchehr Manteqi, as saying in Minsk.

The high quality of the Samand model has resulted in the production of 300,000 Samand cars in the Belarus assembly plant and the brisk sale of the model in the local market.

Iran-Khodro competed with big names in the auto industry from Japan, China and South Korea before winning the license to produce its models in Belarus.

Iran's state-owned Iran Khodro is the largest carmaker in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa, with an annual production of more than one million vehicles of various models, including cars, trucks, minibuses and buses.

Source:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=58066§ionid=351020102

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