Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 3 / Trend A.Yusifzade /
The Iran Khodro Corporation (IKCO) will increase production to 785,000 cars, Moj reported quoting IKCO Deputy Head Ali Shixzade as saying.
IKCO increased production by 28 percent 351,372 cars in March to September 2010. IKCO sold 359,359 passenger cars and pickups in this period, which is up by 32 percent compared to the same period of last year when the company sold 273,000 cars.
Earlier, Mir Javad Soleimani, IKCO Quality and Product Development Vice President stated IKCO's intention to expand its presence in the Azerbaijani market through AzSamand, a joint company between Azerbaijan and Iran.
"So far, more than 3,000 Samand and Samand LX cars have been marketed in Azerbaijan," Soleimani said.
AzSamand produces 10,000 cars a year, whilst the overall demand in the Azerbaijani market is around 25,000 cars. AzSamand intends to meet the major demand in the local market.
Soleimani said a joint group consisting of senior employees of IKCO and AzSamand has been established owing to the importance of Azerbaijani market to IKCO.
The main responsibility of this group is to perform a comprehensive study on the activities and achievements of the two companies and make appropriate decision for AzSamand performance and IKCO markets in Azerbaijan and the region.
Soleimani finally said that decision making and planning for optimized operation of AzSamand to export cars to the region's countries are the most important cooperation hinges of two parties and added, "In the first round of these talks, AzSamand activities for presenting IKCO products was underlined by the both parts", Soleimani said.
IKCO intends to export seven percent of its products in the current year; an amount to be chalked up to 20 percent in near future.
The company currently exports its products to 30 countries and has production plants in Syria, Venezuela, Belarus, Egypt, Senegal and Azerbaijan. The Senegal plant procures the needs of the African market and the Belarus plant meets demands of the Commonwealth of Independent States.