Iran Khodro


Iran Khodro, branded as IKCO, is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. IKCO was founded in 1962 as Iran National. The public company manufactures vehicles, including Samand, Peugeot and Renault cars, and trucks, minibuses and buses. As of 2009, it produced 688,000 passenger cars per year.
As of January 2026, the website ikco.ir cannot be accessed.

History and development

Name

The word khodro means "automobile" in Persian, hence Iran Khodro means "Iran Automobile".

Founding

Iran Khodro was founded on August 29, 1962.

Structure

Iran Khodro Industrial Group 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.

Size and production

The company has become the largest vehicle manufacturer in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. In Iran, it is the largest vehicle manufacturing company, having an average share of 65 percent of domestic vehicle production.
Iran Khodro produced 556,442 passenger cars and commercial vehicles in 2023 and has planned to produce 600,000 units in 2024.

Certifications

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

Products and relationships

Iran's automobile production crossed the 1 million mark in 2005. Iran Khodro is one of the largest car manufacturers in Asia. It has established joint-ventures with foreign partners on 4 continents.
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 in Britain. A pick-up version was still in production until 2015. Bardo Pick-up, pick-up version of Paykan, will be replaced by a new pick-up called the Arisun which is related to the Samand.
The Iranian-designed IKCO Samand replaced the dated Paykan as Iran's "national car", and featured a partly Iranian-designed CNG/petrol dual-fuel engine in its Soren variant.
The firm has a long-term relationship with European and Asian manufacturers including PSA Peugeot Citroën, manufacturing and assembling a number of models under license from these firms. In 2009, Peugeot 206, Peugeot Pars, Peugeot 405, Peugeot Roa, and Samand sedans were IKCO's export-bound cars sent to Azerbaijan, Iraq, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Syria and Afghanistan. As at 2012, IKCO products incorporate 5-10 percent of components imported from France. IKCO's parts imports from Peugeot accounted for 700-800 million euros per year. Iran has reached 98% of self-sufficiency in producing Peugeot 405 parts and 75% in Peugeot 206 parts.
By the end of 2012, Peugeot cut its relations with Iran Khodro due to the international sanctions against Iran. Four years later, in 2016, after reaching Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between Iran and E3+3, Iran Khodro and Peugeot decided to make a 50%-50% joint venture named IKAP to start the relations again.
Renault Pars is in charge of the engineering, quality control, parts supply, logistics, managing sales policies as well as marketing and customer services for Renault products in Iran and IKCO is one of its main shareholders that produces Tondar for the domestic market. Renault Pars is a joint venture, 51 percent of which belongs to Renault of France. Forty-nine percent of Renault Pars' shares is jointly held by Iran's Industrial Development and Renovation Organization, IKCO and Saipa. The agreement to form this joint venture was signed in March 2004.
IKCO also manufactures trucks, buses and E-Class passenger cars under license from Mercedes-Benz. In a joint-venture with Daimler AG, Iran Khodro is to start production of sophisticated 900-class Mercedes-Benz engines; Daimler states that Iranian-made engines will be exported to Germany. Among Asian automotive manufacturers, IKCO is cooperating with Suzuki. Producing Suzuki Grand Vitara in IKCO's Site in Khorasan, IKCO will produce Suzuki Kizashi.
In 2012, IKCO announced that at least 3% of the company's sales will be allocated to research and development. As of 2015, the company's 7-year strategic plans for product development are in body design, die making, suspension, powertrain, trim and car electronics.
In 2017, Italian car design firm 'Pininfarina' signed a €70 million, 36-month contract with Iran's biggest car producer, Iran Khodro Group on for the development of four new models and to give the carmaker a second wind in research and development of new models. The agreement will help develop a modular automotive platform for four different vehicles, and the first passenger car of the medium segment of the market, a press release from the Italian firm said.

Production sites

IKCO has 12 production site around the globe, 6 sites in within Iran's borders and 6 further sites in IKCO's main export markets.

Domestic plants

Foreign sites

Export markets

Russia, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Egypt, Algeria and Bulgaria are among the most important target markets for the group.
Export opportunities are restricted to relatively low volumes with $60 million worth of cars exported in 2007. By this Iran Khodro has ranked as 24th company among 100 top companies in Islamic world in year 2008. The Company has exported about 35,000 cars in year 2009. The company exported 40,000 units in 2010, including 30% of the total production of its Samand model. IKCO intends to export 9% of its output in 2011, amounting to 75,000 vehicles, before reaching 16% in exports by 2014.

Cars

IKCO

The following table shows the cars that have been specially designed
and built by IKCO:
CarStart productionEnd of productionCar class
Paykan19672005Class B sedan
Bardo19692014Class B pickup
Samand20012022Class C sedan
Sarir20062012Class C sedan
Soren20072019Class C sedan
Runna20122020Class B sedan
Dena20142021Class C sedan
Arisun20142020Class C pickup
Arisun 22021—Class C pickup
Dena+2016—Class C sedan
Dena+ turbo2017—Class C sedan
Soren+2019—Class C sedan
Runna+2019—Class B sedan
Tara2020—Class C sedan
Reera2024—Crossover

Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz E-Class Production in Iran Khodro: A Now-Abandoned Assembly Line.
Thirteen years ago, the production line of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class was officially launched at Iran Khodro’s factory. Today, however, the assembly plant lies deserted.
In 2002, negotiations between Iran Khodro and Mercedes-Benz Germany reached a successful agreement. By 2006, the W211 E-Class body was being assembled at "Top Khodro," a subsidiary of Iran Khodro. At the time, Mercedes-Benz Germany supplied around 1,740 parts for the vehicle, and Tap Khodro workers assembled the E-Class using the Semi-Knocked Down method before releasing it to the market.
For a brief period in the mid-2000s, Iran Khodro’s subsidiary, Top Khodro, assembled several variants of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class—including the E200, E280, and E350—under license from the German automaker. These models, based on the W211 generation, were partially built through Semi-Knocked Down assembly, with around 1,740 components imported from Mercedes-Benz.

Peugeot

  • Peugeot 206; a saloon version of the 206, the Peugeot 206 SD also co-developed with Peugeot in year 2005.
  • Peugeot 207i; by 2011, Ikco produced about 15,000-20,000 units Peugeot 207i. The production of 207i stopped in 2012 during relation cut between Ikco and Peugeot because of international sanctions against Iran.
  • Peugeot 405; available in saloon trims GLi and GLX and estate trim GLX
  • Peugeot 405 trim SLX with 1.6L 16 valve PSA TU5 engine
  • Peugeot 407; as CBU
  • Peugeot Pars; initially called the Peugeot Persia. Changes include a redesigned front and modernized rear
  • Peugeot RD; chassis and drivetrain are similar to the older Paykan but the outer body shell and appearance resemble a 405, production of this car ended in favor of the ROA.
  • Peugeot ROA; modified version of Peugeot RD, production of Peugeot ROA was discontinued in 2012.

    [IKAP]

  • Peugeot 508
  • Peugeot 2008
  • Peugeot 301

    Renault

  • Dacia Logan; both IKCO and Saipa produce the car as "Tondar 90".
  • Renault Captur

    Suzuki

  • Suzuki Grand Vitara - Compact SUV which is divided to different 4 main models:
  • *2000 cc engine with 4-speed automatic gearbox
  • *2000 cc engine with 5-speed manual gearbox
  • *2400 cc engine with 4-speed automatic gearbox
  • *2400 cc engine with 5-speed manual gearbox
  • Suzuki Kizashi

    Haima

  • Haima S7
  • Haima S5
  • Haima 8S
  • Haima 7X

    Engines

  • Peugeot engines:
  • * PSA XU7
  • * PSA TU3
  • * PSA TU5
  • IKCO engines:
  • * IKCO EF family
  • * IKCO TU5-Plus
  • * IKCO XU7-Plus
  • * IKCO EF7-Plus
  • * IKCO 3FX family

    EF family

Iran Khodro started to design a new range of engines for its products in 2007 in a joint with F.E.V of Germany. The first EF series engine officially shown to the public in 2008 is EF7 which is currently powering Samand LX car in Iran.
EF7 turbocharged engines were initially shown to the public in mid-2009 and will be installed on Soren ELX by last 2010. Other EF series engines named EF4 & EFD engines design are finished and they are being tested for mass production by Iran Khodro. In November 2009, Iran Khodro unveiled its new "national diesel engine" with fuel consumption of 5 liters per 100 kilometers in combined cycle. The engine has achieved emission standard of Euro 5, featuring a Diesel Particulate Filters as well as a new Exhaust Gas Recirculation. The 1.5-liter turbodiesel uses advanced technology to deliver strong power and torque of 300Nm. Iran Khodro has designed the EF4 & EFD itself.