Azernews.Az

By Naila Huseynli

Iranian automobile manufacturer “Iran Khodro” intends to launch second line of production in Azerbaijan, said Mohsun Salehi Iran's deputy minister of industry, mining and trade.

This step will allow the company to expand its production in Azerbaijan.

“At present, “Iran Khodro” intends to increase the current production capacity to raise the daily vehicle output from four to eight. In the future, the company plans to produce 2,500 cars per year through launching the second line of production,” he told Trend.

Meanwhile, Head of IKCO (Iran Khodro Co.) operations in Asia, Europe, America and Commonwealth of Independent States Sabina Nobari said Azerbaijan and Iran will soon export cars to Russia, Ukraine and the CIS nations via a joint venture, dubbed Khazar Car Factory.

Currently, all the cars produced at Khazar factory are sold in Azerbaijan.

“Iran Khodro and the Azerbaijani automotive company AzEuroCar LLC have manufactured over 300 units of family sedan model Dena in Azerbaijan since March,” Nobari noted.

Iran Khodro and Azerbaijani automotive company Azeurocar signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint venture in the Neftchala Industrial Zone in 2016.

In early April, the Azerbaijan-Iran automobile factory started production of the first cars. The factory produces cars under the brand name of Khazar, and a number of models of Peugeot and Renault will also be assembled there. The annual capacity of the factory is about 10,000 cars.

The cost of cars amount to 14,000-16,000 manats ($8,252-$9,431). By the end of 2018, the plant plans to launch production of new models, which will cost a little more - 18,000-20,000 manats ($10.610-$11,789).

All cars produced at the factory comply with Euro 5 standards.

The total cost of the project is estimated at 24 million manats. The Azerbaijani side has invested 75 percent in the factory, and the Iranian side has invested 25 percent.