March 29, 2007

This model of Samand from Iran Khodro (IKCO) called Soren was unveiled a couple of weeks ago. The planned production for Yr. 1356 is 22,000 units (10,000 targeted for export). It is built on the same platform as the ordinary Samand, or Peugeot 405. The car will be equipped with two front air bags, and optional navigation system.

Not too far in the future, Iran Khodro is planning to install a new engine known as the "National Engine" on this car which is an advanced naturally aspirated, 1.7 liter ,16 valve, 4 cylinder. This engine has been designed to primarily consume natural gas, although it'll run on unleaded gasoline as well. It will meet the EURO IV pollution standard, which is much improved compared to the current standards in Iran. The engine went into production for the first time last week and will be a workhorse for the future IKCO models.

IKCO has two more engines in the works which will be rolled out in the coming year(s). One is a naturally aspirated  1.4 L and the other is a supercharged 1.7L. -- Bahman Javidi

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