Major Iranian carmaker, Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), ranked 16th among car manufacturers worldwide in 2009 with producing some 688,000 passenger and commercial vehicles, the IKCO vice-president stated.
The Mehr News Agency quoted Mir-Javad Soleimani as saying that the company jumped six places in the rankings compared to 2008.
Total car production in Iran reached about 1.4 million in 2009, showing a 12 percent increase year on year, putting the country in 12th place among car manufacturing countries.
The official said that global automotive companies manufactured 71.15 million vehicles in 2008, while production declined in 2009 to 61.65 million showing a 13 percent decrease.
China was the largest car producer in 2009 and manufactured 13.7 million vehicles.