An environmentally-friendly city bus was unveiled in Iran this week.
The bus named Parsian has been manufactured by Iran's Oghab Afshan Industrial and Manufacturing Company, which is the official representative of the Swedish automotive manufacturer Scania in Iran.
Present at the event were some of Scania's top CEOs. Henrik Henriksson, Scania's head of sales and marketing, said Scania wishes to increase the scope of its collaboration with Oghab Afshan so that with more investment,the company could start producing spare bus parts locally, ILNA reported. The official added that his company had signed a deal with Iran's Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade so that Oghab Afshan could become Scania's export hub in the Middle East "with a special focus on buses and coaches."
He noted that the production of the new bus is an example of productive collaboration between the two companies.
"I can firmly say that this is the most environmentally-friendly city bus produced in the Middle East," he said. Henriksson projected that in the near future, Scania's city buses could very well replace the Chinese buses currently used in Iran's public transportation fleet. With 310 horsepower, the new bus has a 9-liter 5-cylinder engine and conforms to Euro-4 emission standards, which are the minimum requirement of European Union countries dictated by Brussels.
Parsian is 12 meters long and runs on ZF 6-speed automatic transmission, one of the newest industrial gear boxes. It is also equipped withan automatic 48 kW air-conditioning system for those hot summer months in Iran. The design of the bus is based on Scania Citywide to provide more comfort for the driver and passengers.
Oghab Afshan is currently able to manufacture 10 units of the bus daily. Henriksson pointed to the western sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear energy program as a major impediment that hindered past activities.
"We have high hopes for the future of cooperation in Iran and in collaboration with our Iranian business partners, we are quite certain that the past shortcomings can be compensated."
The official noted that his company and Iran's Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade have been negotiating so that Iran's public transportation fleet could be renewed.
"If an agreement is reached, we can count on OghabAfshan Company to fulfill our obligations to Iran," he said.
