Iran's largest carmaker readying for reexport to Russian market

Iran and the Middle-East's largest auto-manufacturer, the Iran-Khodro Company (IKCO), has received the required standard certificate from the Russian Standard Organization and will soon resume exports of its main products to the Russian market. Russian Standard Organization audited IKCO cars for 18 months and finally Samand, Soren and Runna sedans received the Euro IV standard, which allows these cars to be present in the Russian market for two years. IKCO Vice-President Abbas Maleki said during a meeting between senior IKCO managers and Russian Standard Organization authorities that his company attaches much value to exports, and added, "IKCO's new management has adopted a new 5-year export strategy and has invested in this field." Abbasi declared that the Russian car market was a big one that could lead IKCO to CIS market, and added, "This is not a short term investment and IKCO will go for Euro V standard to stay in this market." Also during the meeting, IKCO's Deputy CEO for Exports Ali Elmi pointed out that the Euro IV standard certificate could pave the way for IKCO products to enter markets as Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and other CIS countries. He also mentioned IKCO would try to supply the market demand for this big region, and stated, "We sold more than 11000 cars in the Russian market from 2006 to 2008, however lack of Euro IV standard, the implementation of which was compulsory, kept us away from this market." Elmi believed that a long-term presence in the Russian Confederation after the deadline for cars with Euro IV standard required a precise planning, and said, "Our experience in this market tells us that we need to take every measure into account to acquire Euro V and VI standard certificates in order to successfully stay in this market for a long time." Samand passenger car, the most well-known product of IKCO, has a good market in Russia where a fan club for this car is founded.