By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Iran’s largest car-maker Iran Khodro (IKCO) is planning to export 15,000 cars to Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Belarus by the end of this year.
Iranian news agency ISNA quoted company head Javad Najmeddin as saying that IKCO was also planning to produce 2,000 cars at its plant in Belarus in 2012.
The company currently exports seven percent of its vehicles, and the figure is expected to rise to 12 percent in 2012, and to 20 percent in the next few years.
The car-maker is also in talks to supply vehicles to other former Soviet countries, as well as to African and Latin American states.
Established in 1962 in Tehran, the state-owned IKCO is one of the largest car-makers in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa, with an annual production of more than one million vehicles, including cars, trucks, minibuses and buses.
The company operates plants in Iran, Azerbaijan and Belarus.
Among the cars manufactured by IKCO are Suzuki Grand Vitara, Peugeot Roa, Peugeot 405 and Peugeot 206.