As part of an agreement between Iran Khodro and the Omani Industrial Fund, Iran will jointly produce the Dena and export it to Africa and Yemen within a year, according to Omani officials who visited Tehran earlier this week.
A high level economic delegation from Oman led by Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, arrived in Iran on September 25 and discussed the project further.
During their visit, the delegation pushed ahead with their plans to start production of the Dena at the Duqm site in central-eastern Oman with their Iranian counterparts.
The first Dena cars to roll out at the Omani plant will be in late spring 2017, according to reports from Muscat.
IKCO’s Dena will be the first car to be assembled at the factory – and also the first in Oman.
The family car first unveiled in April 2011, but mass-production only began in 2015 with sales in Iran growing steadily since then.
Khalid Al Yahmadi, investment director at OIF, had said in January that a preliminary study had been conducted before signing the MoU.
Al Yahmadi noted then that the vehicles may be sold under a separate brand, according to the news website Al Bawaba at the time.
The Omani company added that initial production would be 20,000 units a year.
Although the project may seem small compared to Iran’s production numbers, it is a significant agreement between Iran and an Arab country.
Oman offers an entirely different market for IKCO products. Oman have never been under embargoes of any sort.
According to Best Selling Car blog, the Toyota Land Cruiser remains the bestselling car in the market in their recent in a July report.
In fact, East Asian carmakers remain the number one favorite group for Omani buyers.
Toyota continues to account for more than 1 in every 2 sales in the country but has seen the market share thaw to 52% from 54.2% a year ago due to sales down 24%.
Conversely, Hyundai (+2%), Lexus (+4%) and Isuzu (+9%) have all gained ground in the Top 5 whereas Nissan crumbled down 33%, the site adds.
Toyota’s Hilux remains the market leader despite deliveries down 29% and is followed by the Land Cruiser Pickup (-30%), Land Cruiser SW (-31%), Prado (-34%) and Corolla (-13%).
