Iran Khodo, the country’s oldest and largest car manufacturer, has announced it will begin the sales of China’s Haima 7 small sports utility vehicle. IKCO’s announcement that is teaming up with Haima Motors China comes as a shock to many in the auto community as they previously denied it would work with Chinese companies. It is not known if the Karaj based automaker will simply ship the vehicles to the country or work with Haima as part of a complete-knock-down deal, meaning they would montage the vehicle in-country to avoid import taxes. IKCO announced the new deal at an event in Shiraz last week, and said the Haima 7 will compete directly against fellow Chinese rivals, Lifan and JAC motors which have been present in the Iranian market over the past couple of years. The price for the new vehicle has been pegged at 850 million rials currently ($24,000 at market rate), which matches its foreign rivals and comes in 50 million rials cheaper than Renault’s Captur model which is also being released shortly.
