SAIPA 141 production line kicks off in Venezuela

The plant to produce Iranian passenger car of Saipa 141 came kicked off in Venezuela on Sunday. Venezuelan high-ranking officials and the managing director of Iranian auto-maker SAIPA attended the inauguration ceremony of the plant dubbed "VEN.IR.Auto".

"VEN.IR.Auto is planned to produce 5,000 units of Saipa 141 by the end of this year. Its final capacity is estimated at 20,000 units per year, which is expected to be fulfilled within the next three years," Ahmad Qalebani, SAIPA managing director, said.

Noting that Saipa 141 is the first Iranian passenger car produced at the Latin American state, he added that it is supplied at the price of $7500 to 8000.

SAIPA outpaces Iran Khodro first time ever

SAIPA left behind its longtime rival car manufacturer, Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), in the first half of the year (Iranian year started March 21, 2006) by substantial gap, the Persian service of ISNA reported.

This was the first time ever, the manufacturer of popular Pride passenger cars outran the IKCO in over a decade-long competition. Thanks to production of 195,450 Prides in the first six months which outpaced the record annual production of past-time favorite of Iran's auto market, the bygone Paykan.

The period witnessed total of 222,520 passenger and commercial vehicles churned out by SAIPA, whereas IKCO had to be happy with 175,000. The figure is still far off from the announced annual production of 600,000.

SAIPA unveils all-Iranian car: Miniator

Iran’s SAIPA has unveiled its new car, the Miniator, which is fully designed and manufactured by the company’s engineers using only domestically built parts.