BURSA - Iran`s Khodro Company (IKCO), a major auto manufacturer in the Middle East, expressed its willingness to invest in Turkey.
In an exclusive interview with AA, IKCO`s Turkey Distributor MYS Otomotiv`s Director General Yigit Seskir said that IKCO made a decision to erect a factory in Marmara region of Turkey.
"The factory is expected to be operational as of 2009. Once the factory gets active, exports to Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania will take place from this factory. IKCO`s new factory is expected to help the company earn revenues of 300 million USD. Models, such as "Samand" and "Soren", will get manufactured in Turkey. The factory will employ 1,000 Turkish workers," Seskir said.
In the past two years, IKCO made investments in Azerbaijan, Argentine, Belarus and Syria.
"Iran pays high attention to the Turkish market. Turkey drew attention of IKCO officials after `Samand` model (with a sale price of 19,900 new Turkish liras--one dollar equals 1.33) sold more than 1,600 since the beginning of 2008 in Turkey. We are currently making our assessment and will soon decide where to erect IKCO`s new factory in Turkey," Seskir said.
Iran Khodro Industrial Group is a major Iranian industrial manufacturer. Khodro means "automobile" in Persian. The company manufactures cars for the domestic and foreign markets.
Iran Khodro produces Iran`s first national car, the Samand, which is based on the Peugeot 405 platform. The firm has a long-term relationship with PSA Peugeot Citroen, and assembles a number of Peugeot models under license from the French firm.
Iran Khodro is the largest automotive producer in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa regions, with an annual capacity of around 1,000,000 vehicles including cars, buses, trucks and pick-ups.
(SOL-ULG)