Spotted in China: Iran Khodro Samand Sarir

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Here we have an extremely rare car, seen in the Sanlitun District in Beijing. This is the Iran Khodro Samand Sarir,a stretched limousine based on the Khodro Samand.  The Samand has been in production since 2003 until today, it is based on Peugeot 405 platform but the body and engines (since 2009) are developed in Iran. The Samand is made by the Iran Khodro Company, aka ICKO, which is Iran’s biggest auto maker, established in 1962 in the capital Tehran.

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Iran Khodro Samand Sarir

No Khodro’s are exported to China, this particular example belongs to the Iranian embassy in Beijing and wass in very good shape, as it should be representing its country… The Iran-developed EF7 patrol engine is a 1.7 four-cylinder that poops out 113hp. Not too much power, considering that the base Samand already weighs 1370kg.

Iran Khodro Samand Sarir

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Iran Khodro Samand Sarir

Stretched by 30 centimeters around the B-pillar for more space in the back. A true Iranian limousine. This brings its size to: 4532/1720/1460, wheelbase is 2701. Price for all this pretty” in Iran it costs about 17.000 USD in today’s exchange rates.

Iran Khodro Samand Sarir

Interestingly there were plans to produce the Samand in China. Iran Khodro and China’s Youngman, of Saab fame, established a joint venture in 2006 to make the Samand and Soren in Youngman’s Tai’an plant for the Chinese market. Things didn’t go well between partners and Khodro pulled out in 2008, starting talks with Chery instead, but nothing came of that either.

Iran Khodro Samand Sarir

‘Khodro’ is the name of a mythical Iranian horse, Khodro’s logo therefore is a horse’s head.

Iran Khodro Samand Sarir

Iran Khodro Samand Sarir

Via Car & Driver a few pics from the interior. Pretty plush with those flat screens but I guess there won’t be any champagne in the fridge. Quality can be improved a bit here and there.

Iran Khodro Samand Sarir

Wood = luxurious. Check glovebox lid.

Peugeot 405. The original was made from 1987 until 1997. PSA however still makes the platform and parts for export to several countries that make 405-derivatives under license, Khodro is one of them.

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15 COMMENTS

    • I assure you the name Sarir is not “Arabic”. It is very unlikely iranians would give an arabic name to a national car. It probably sounds the same by some coincidence. It means “throne” according to google translate, which would make sense as this particular version of the Samand appears to be a stretched, high-end version

      • Sarir in Arabic has several meanings:
        1 – Bed.
        2 – Throne.
        3 – Grace and might of the king.
        4 – Coffin.
        5 – Couch.

  1. This isn’t their newest product though, the newest product by Iran Khodro is the IKCO Dena based on…… yep you guessed it, a heavily modified Peugeot 405 platform. Best part is that the design looks nothing like the Peugeot 405 but instead like a modern refined Iranian product.

    Amazing what happens when a company decides to stop building a car (The IKCO Paykan) that they built for 38 years (from 1967-2005).

  2. f12 is right. Sarir in Persian means Throne or chair of a king or Queen. and about word “khodro” mentioned in the article, it means “car” not horse or any thing else. actually IranKhodro produce their passenger cars under a sub-brand called “Samand”. this “Samand” is a specific kind of Iranian horse. and of course, horse is an icon in middle eastern cultures as in Iranian cuture.

  3. “khodro” means “car” in Persian and “samand” is a kind of Iranian horse. Samand is a brand of Iran Khodro that products five passenger cars: EL,SE,LX,Soren and Sarir.
    note that “IKCO” is the abbreviation of “Iran Khodro Company”

  4. A big improvement over the old Hillman Hunter based Peykan, they also make a smaller car based on the Peugeot 206 Sedan called the Runna.

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