Peugeot Pars
The Peugeot Pars, previously known as Peugeot Persia and Peugeot Safir, is a passenger car produced by the Iranian carmaker Iran Khodro. After 10 years of manufacturing the Peugeot 405 in Iran, the Peugeot company designed the Peugeot Persia For Iran as its facelift, with a front end design similar to that of the Peugeot 406. The Peugeot Persia was soon renamed Peugeot Safir and eventually Peugeot Pars because of local copyright problems.
Versions
The Peugeot Pars has been made in multiple variants. The 16V, ELX and LX models use more powerful PSA 16-valve engines and a few other improvements.Peugeot Pars
The initial variation of the Peugeot Pars, was introduced in early 2000 by Iran Khodro/IKCO. The car was powered by a 1.8-liter 8-valve XU7JP/L3 engine capable of producing and of torque. The Pars was the first car to use this engine in the line-up of cars offered by IKCO. and shortly after, it was also used in the Samand and Peugeot 405 GLX 1.8i. In 2014, the dashboard was updated and almost completely redesigned, and the side mirrors were equipped with turn signals, this specific model was released under the name Pars Sal. The CNG/BiFuel variation of this car was discontinued in 2021. In 2022, Iran Khodro/IKCO used the XU7P engine for the Pars base model, replacing the XU7JP/L3 engine. The custom order variation of this car was available aluminum rims, rear disc brakes, and tinted rear windows.Peugeot Pars LX
This version uses a 1.6 L, 16-valve engine. The PSA-borrowed engine is TU5JP4 DOHC with 4 valves per cylinder capable of producing a maximum power of at 5800 rpm and a maximum torque of at 4000 rpm which is controlled by a Crouse or Bosch ECU. The same engine was already powering The PSA Peugeot 206 and the Peugeot 405 SLX. This engine was used for the IKCO Runna as well.Peugeot Pars ELX
The upmarket version named ELX features smart instrument cluster, multi-purpose Persian-reading dashboard telematics, alarm with door auto-lock, park assistant, electric Recaro cloth seats equipped with heater/cooling fan, luxury dashboard trim, passenger illuminated vanity mirror, 4-disc brakes with ABS/EBD, and finally rally alloy wheels.The PSA-borrowed engine is XU7JP4 1.8 L 16-valve DOHC with 4 hydraulically adjusted valves per cylinder capable of producing a maximum power of 109.0 bhp at 5500 rpm and a maximum torque of 155.0 N·m at 4250 rpm which is controlled by Bosch Motronic MP 7.3 ECU. The same engine was already in use in the PSA's Peugeot 406 LX 1.8i 16v, Citroën Xantia SX 1.8i 16v, and Citroën Xsara VTS 1.8i 16v
IKCO replaced the ELXs engine with the new XUM powertrain, [PSA XU engine|the 8-valve 1.9L PSA Peugeot Citroën|PSA XUM Engine] which makes 105 horsepower and 155 Nm of torque. The new ELX XUM was also more equipped, this time around coming with a new steering wheel which had buttons on it to control multi media, A Passenger Airbag, Handsfree For the Radio, New black and beige trimming and Wood trimming, new Gauge Cluster. The ELX XUM stopped production in 2017.
After a five-year hiatus, the well-equipped ELX returned in 2022, this time however with more features, like Cruise control, Rain sensor, Tire-pressure monitoring system, In-car entertainment system which included a Touch Screen Display, Etc.
Whilst much more equipped than the previous ELX trim level, It instead had much weaker powertrain options, a 1.8L XU7+ Straight-four engine or a 1.6L TU5 JP4 16 Valve Straight-four engine which was already seen in the Peugeot 206, Peugeot 405 SLX and the IKCO Runna. The 1.8L XU7+ was a first timer engine for IKCO which was soon put in the IKCO Arisun.
Peugeot Pars 16V
Not as well equipped as ELX, this model was simply an upgraded version of Pars in terms of engine and rear brakes. The 16V employed a more powerful 16 valve engine, and rear disc brakes, but ABS was not available even as an option. The 16V model's production lasted less than a year; began on the second quarter of 2003 and ended on the first quarter of 2004, the same time it was replaced with the ELX model.The Iran Khodro website contradicts this information, stating that a non-ELX 16V variant was still produced in 2009.
Many Iranian car industry critics believe its production was a case study of the Iranian car market capacity performed by Iran Khodro before beginning the production of ELX to see if people are interested in more powerful and luxurious versions of Pars.
As an improvement over the Pars, the 16V utilizes solid disc brakes on rear wheels, but unlike the ELX which is equipped with an advanced ABS/EBD, the 16V model uses the same vacuum booster, master cylinder, distributor, and hydraulic lines in its braking system as the standard Pars.
The more powerful LFY engine fitted to the 16V models grabbed the interest of the authorities who are always seeking for high-performance yet inexpensive cars as service vehicles. A large number of 16Vs were produced according to requests registered by Iranian governmental organizations. 16Vs can be seen as parliament service cars and also motorcade escorts.
Facelifts
Two facelifts were designed for the Peugeot Pars, neither of which were released to the market.The first facelift of the Pars was designed in the mid-2000s. Iran Khodro redesigned the front end with larger headlights and a new bumper and grille, and at the rear, the design of the rear bumper and taillights was changed, taking influence from the BMW 7 Series (E65). This project was known as the Parsian and featured the Iran Khodro logo instead of the Peugeot logo. Ultimately, this project did not reach production for unknown reasons.
In July 2023, The Peugeot Pars received a facelift due to not being able to meet modern standards, IKCO used the front bumper from the IKCO Arisun, a product made by the same manufacturer. They also managed to just barely fit a daylight system on the new Pars, they removed the plastic protection pieces from the car's body to make it look and seem more modern. The car this time around, was also equipped with more features such as a DRL System, Electronic stability control, Gear Shift Indicator screen. The car was also offered with IKCO's new powertrain, the PSA TU5P (EC5 In Europe), as well as a Euro 5 version of the PSA XU7P. images of this facelift was met with very negative feedback and its production was canceled.
Engines
The following variants are, or were, available:- Pars/Pars BiFuel,''' 83 BHp/61 kW, 135 Nm/99 ft-lb
- Pars LX, Pars automatic and Pars ELX-TU5
- Pars 16V and Pars ELX
- Pars ELX XUM
- ELX XU7P