Iran Khodro Industrial Group (IKCO), Iran's largest automaker, inaugurated Monday a new plant in Mazandaran Province to produce annually 8,000 Samand Sarir models.
Iran's first vice-president and the minister of Industries and Mines inspected the factory and attended the inauguration ceremony.
IKCO is a public joint stock company which churns out various types of vehicles and spare parts for domestic consumption as well as export. IKCO produces vehicles under 11 brand names.
The company has become the largest vehicle manufacturer in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. In Iran the industrial group has an average share of 65 percent of domestic market.
IKCO plans to increase its production to 730,000 vehicles by 2011 from around the target of 680,000 for 2010.
Russia, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Egypt, Algeria and Bulgaria are among the most important target market for the group.