Samand

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SAMAND Sarir

Samand Coupe, one of the many models of the Samand family. Designed and produced in Iran after the end of the Paykan productions.

Samand (also known as the Paykan X7, New Paykan, or National Automobile) is Iran's national car, manufactured by Iran Khodro using local manufacturers for 85% of its parts.

1 Lineage of the model
2 Origin of the name
3 Assembly
4 External links

[edit] Lineage of the model

Samand LX.

The Samand is built on the Peugeot 405 platform, using the "XU7JPK" and "XU7JP/L3" engines amongst others. The Peugeot 405 is also in production in Iran, along with a facelifted version, the Peugeot Pars. Iran Khodro's relationship with the French company PSA Peugeot Citroën began when they supplied XM7 engines (used in the Peugeot 504) along with the drivetrain for some models of the Paykan,^{[citation needed]} which itself was based on the Hillman Hunter. Exports to Russia began in 2006.

Iran Khodro has stated that they plan to place the first national engine, with dual-fuel capability (to work on both natural gas and normal gasoline), in the Samand.^{[citation needed]} The German company Bosch has also shown interest in assembling the Iranian engine under license.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Origin of the name

In Persian, samand is the name for a kind of fast horse. It has been suggested that the former President of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, proposed this name for the car, taking it from Ferdowsi's epic poem the Shahnameh.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Assembly

The Samand has been also produced in Minsk, Belarus by the Unison firm along side Lublin trucks since September 2006, and also at the Samand plant owned by Star Limited in Azerbaijan.

Iran Khodro also plans to assemble the Samand in Syria, Venezuela, China and Senegal in joint ventures in the future.