History of Iran Khodro:
Iran Khodro (with the brand name IKCO) is an Iranian automobile manufacturing company whose head office is located in Tehran and was founded in August 1341 by two brothers named Ahmad and Mahmoud Khayami. This first company was called Iran National and its first production group was a type of bus.

In 1345, with a contract with Roots, England, Iran-Khodro planned the production of Pikan, and on May 24, 1968, its special factory was opened and its mass production started.

From 1968 to 1978, Pikan was produced in work, luxury, youth, station and van models. All kinds of trucks, buses, minibuses and ambulances were also produced in this company in these years with the cooperation of Daimler Benz.

In 1352, the company aimed to become self-sufficient and sell all Iranian products. In this regard, several factories and supply companies were established throughout Iran.

In 1977, the company had a serious intention to produce a replacement for Pikan, but with the revolution of 1978 and the Iran-Iraq war, the project was disrupted, and after the war, the company reached an agreement with French Peugeot and foreign partners to produce new cars in Iran.

In the 80s, due to Iran’s economic turmoil, this company went to the point of complete closure, when Peugeot announced its readiness to cooperate, Iran Khodro underwent a major transformation.

Peugeot became the partner of Iran Khodro in Iran and sold the company’s products in a very high number in Iran. Peugeot 405, 206, 207 and Pars were able to take over a large part of the Iranian market, which was a significant profit for the French company. Iran Khodro also cooperated with Renault, another French automobile company, and successfully sold the L90, one of the company’s cheap products, in the Iranian market.

Many Iranian experts believe that due to the lack of proper management, Iran Khodro has turned from a self-sufficient company into a sales tool for foreign companies. However, the company has produced two completely exclusive cars, Samand (2002) and Dana (2015). Samand produced in 2002 was called the first national car of Iran.

Founded by the Khayami brothers

Iran Khodro company was founded in August 1962 with a capital of nearly one hundred million rials by the Khayami brothers and was registered in Tehran Companies Registration Office with registration number 8352 and national ID number 10100360794 in September of the same year. The first group of products of this company were buses known as “LP” whose chassis were imported from Germany.

In 1969, IKCO Company established its bus and truck diesel engine manufacturing plant in Tabriz under the name of Iran Diesel Engine Manufacturing Company (I.D.E.M.) with the direct investment of Germany’s Daimler Benz, and also in the same year its truck and bus gearbox manufacturing plant under the name of the company In the same area, he established a rotary machine with direct investment from Germany’s ZF.

Confiscation after the 1357 revolution and the period after that

In 1978, due to the need for a new car and the production of a replacement for Pikan was on the agenda of the company, a contract was signed with Peugeot and the production of Peugeot 305 was planned, but with the revolution of 1978, during the confiscation of property and assets, All the property and assets of the Khayami brothers, including IKCO and its related companies, were confiscated and given to the government, and this contract was also terminated.

Shortly after the 1978 revolution, news about the attempt to destroy IKCO’s factories was spread, and some radical revolutionary groups did not agree with the continuation of this company’s activities. With the revolution of 1357 and the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war, Iran Khodro industries suffered losses, wear and tear and many problems that continued until the mid-80s. 

In 1988, with the acceptance of Security Council Resolution 598 by Iran and Iraq, preparations were made for the production of the Peugeot 405, and this French car was able to sell very well in the Iranian market.

In 1989, at the same time as the Iranian government emphasized on the production of cars for general use, IKCO considered a bus production hall, which produced 6,000 buses annually in two shifts. At the same time as the production of Pikan stopped and there was no motive force for it, Peugeot signed a contract with Iran Khodro and this company decided to install the 504 engine on Pikan.

In 1991, Pikan production started again and Sapco company was founded.

In 1974, a seven-year plan was compiled for Iran Khodro Company. An increase in the production circulation of more than 300,000 units per year also occurred in the same year. Among the strategic goals in the seven-year plan was the issue of car quality and its continuous improvement, in line with which, the ISO 9000 standard and the benefit of the quality assurance system were considered, and by the end of 1998, many production units had the ISO 9002 certificate.

Peugeot 405

With the establishment of the research center, in the 1990s, Samand was designed on the Peugeot 405 platform, and this car was mass produced in 2002. This was the first time that an Iranian company made a car with its own special design, and after this, Iran Khodro was able to put various designs on Samand and sell its special products. This car was very successful in sales and its production continued until the 2020s.

 

2000s:

In 2003, the Pars Sal, Samand Sal projects were started, and in 2004, some minor changes were applied to the cars and new models were added to them.

In 2004, Pikan car was removed from the list of Iran Khodro products. In this year, an engine named “National Engine” based on gas was designed.

In 2005, the national engine production line was launched with the presence of the President of Iran. In the same year, the cross-border projects of Samand production in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Syria and Venezuela were put into operation. In a new agreement with a foreign company, El Nud was added to the company’s product list in collaboration with Renault this year.

In 2006, Iran Khodro launched its production lines in Tabriz, Senegal and Egypt and presented the new Samand Soren product to the market.

In 2007, this company designed a car called Rana, which was based on the products of foreign companies and is very similar to Peugeot 206. This year, Iran Khodro won the national export award as an exemplary exporter of Iran.

In 2009, the record production of 755,555 light vehicles was achieved by Iran Khodro for the first time in the history of the Middle East. Almost half of the country’s light car production share was given to Iran Khodro and this company was very successful in making profits and creating jobs in Iran.

In the 2010s, despite the design of Iran Khodro’s third exclusive car, named Dena (also Dena Plus), this company continued to supply products of foreign companies such as Peugeot and Renault and sought new agreements with these companies.

At the end of 2010, Iran Khodro continues to benefit from its consecutive record breaking production, which Peugeot ended its cooperation with Iran Khodro after 20 years.

Isaco is a company that supplies and distributes parts and spare parts for Iran Khodro products, which was established on 1977 as a private limited company. This company has stores all over Iran and its products have the trademark of this company.

Car assistance
Emdad Khodro is a company that provides emergency services at all hours of the day and night throughout Iran and is accessible to Iran Khodro customers and if they have its cards, it is possible to use free services.

Iran Hadron Factory

You can see the official-site of IKCO compony: Click Here!

Iran Khodro Tehran: The central site of Iran Khodro on Special Road
Iran Khodro Khorasan: This company was established on the 5th of January 1379 in order to produce passenger and commercial vehicles such as sedans, SUVs, vans, vans and trucks.
Iran Khodro Tabriz: Currently Samand Khodro and Samand Soren Plus are manufactured in Iran Khodro Tabriz.
Iran Khodro Semnan: a factory owned by the private sector, whose cooperation with Iran Khodro has been terminated and Farda Motor Group is active in it.
Iran Khodro Fars: Currently, Peugeot Pars is produced in this unit.
Iran Khodro Mazandaran: Iran Khodro Mazandaran Company started its activity in 2009 with the production of 1917 Samand Sarir machines.

Outside Iran

So far, Iran Khodro has built factories for the production of cars in Venezuela, Senegal, Belarus, Iraq, Syria and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Amir Khojaste, a member of parliament from Hamedan, told Fars news agency that Iran Khodro invested $100 million in Senegal, but had “no production and benefit”.

According to Radio Farda, among the production units of Iran Khodro abroad, only the production units in Syria and Iraq and to some extent Azerbaijan have had economic justification.

Azerbaijan
In 2005, Iran’s first overseas automobile factory was opened in the Republic of Azerbaijan, which produced Samand passenger cars under the name of Az-Samand.

At that time, Samand still had the possibility of global sales. At the beginning of the sale of Samand in this country, it was relatively well received and the availability of spare parts in a short time has been one of the reasons for the buyers. With the intensification of sanctions and loss of Iran Khodro during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran Khodro suffered a crisis and the Samand production line in Azerbaijan was closed in 2009.

Finally, you can see the products produced for Iran Khodro vehicles through the link below.

Tekocar Products