Iran's national car, the Paykan, is to finally stop rolling off the production line before March 2005, bringing to an end nearly four decades of dubious service to the country's environment.
"The assembly line of Paykan will stop, I have no doubt about it," Industry Minister Eshagh Jahanjiri was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA, confirming the government was still set on seeing the back of the car.
The Paykan, meaning "arrow", is a descendent of the 1960's British Hillman Hunter, and aside from a few minor cosmetic changes still shares most of the same technology - including hefty fuel consumption of 18 litres per 100 kilometers (4.8 gallons per 62 miles).
At least a third of all cars on the Islamic republic's roads are Paykans, making them as ubiquitous for Iran as Trabants were for East Germany. And even while costing nearly 60 million rials (7,500 dollars), the car is the budget vehicle of choice and dealers have long waiting lists.
Iran's auto market is tightly protected, and foreign companies are confined to striking joint-venture deals with local firms, which in turn assemble the cars here from parts shipped in.
The Paykan, manufactured by state-owned Iran Khodro, is steadily being replaced by other budget models, such as the Kia Pride and Saipa R5 (a derivative of the Renault 5) that are produced by rival state-owned company Saipa.
Comments
Comments are closed.