Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.14/ Trend F.Milad
Iranian giant carmaker Iran Khodro (IKCO) has restarted manufacturing the Peugeot 206 from the beginning of the current Iranian calendar month (December 21, 2012), deputy manager of the company said on Monday.
Iran plans to increase production capacity up to 300 vehicles per day by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20), the IRNA News Agency quoted Hossein Najjarpour as saying.
Saying that IKCO currently produces 2000 vehicles per day and went on to note that the number increase to 2500 by the end of current Iranian year.
Iranian car manufacturers produced 72,845 vehicles in the ninth month of the current Iranian calendar year (November 21 - December 21).
The amount shows a 1.5 per cent increase compared to the preceding month's figure of 71,732 vehicles, the state IRNA News Agency reported.
On Nov. 27, 2012, the ISNA news agency reported that several car companies in Iran had halted their production, while according to the ISNA report, auto production has dropped 66 per cent in September compared to last year's figures.
Iranian car manufacturers produced 1.648 million cars in 2011.
Iran's giant car manufacturer Iran Khodro (IKCO) and also the Saipa Company faced a sharp decrease in output in first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year, according to reports.
IKCO's total output in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year which began March 20 stood at 234,518 (averaging 29,314 vehicles in a month).
The figure shows a 45.1 per cent decrease compared to the same period last year.
Iran's vehicle manufacturers are faced with both rising production costs and lacking some details as to how to manufacture cars after the giant international auto companies left Iran because of sanctions aimed to curb the country's disputed nuclear programme.
These include Italian Fiat, German General Motors and its French partner PSA Peugeot Citroen, South Korean Hyundai and the Japanese Toyota Motor Corporation, etc.
Iran's major car producer Iran Khodro which had been a partner of France's Peugeot since 1989 had to close some production units.