Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 22 /Trend, A.Yusifzade /
Renault and Renault Pars defined six new projects to produce new vehicles in Iran, Renault Managing Director in Iran Piman Kargar was quoted by MOJ as saying.
Iran Khodro Company (IKCO) CEO Javad Najmeddin said that the automaker plans to present eight new products over the next five years "in order to gain more domestic and international market shares and meet customers' demands".
He further explained that two out of these eight new cars would be designed and manufactured on new platforms, in A or B class.
He estimated the cost of the newly designed car to be around eight to ten thousand dollars.
Following a rise in the price of gasoline and the launch of a new fuel rationing system, Iran's top automaker has announced plans to manufacture more fuel-efficient cars.
IKCO plans to increase the production of two types of fuel-efficient engines (EF7 and TU5) and gradually outfit its cars with the new engines in the near future, Javad Najmeddin said.
"IKCO will outfit 75 percent of its products with fuel efficient engines next year," Najmeddin added.
Under the new rationing system, the price of gasoline rose by fourfold from IRR1,000 (10 cents) per liter to IRR4,000 (40 cents) per liter as of Dec. 19.
Purchase of fuel beyond a car owner's monthly quota of 50 liters will now cost IRR7,000 (70 cents) per liter.
"The company is trying to utilize the most modern technologies in order to boost emission standards of its engines to the Euro IV and V levels and cut down on their consumption to an average of 71/100 km," IKCO CEO noted.
Najmeddin reiterated that increasing domestic production of engine parts and the EF7, TU5 and IKCO's 1400 cc engines, as well as improving their technologies by 2016, are high on the company's agenda for the coming years.
IKCO was founded in 1962 and is currently regarded as the biggest automaker in the Middle East.
IKCO received a special trophy at the Third International nanotechnology Festival, 2010, as the leading company in nano-related auto industry.