TEHRAN (ISNA) – Iran’s largest car-maker Iran Khodro (IKCO) is planning to export 15,000 cars to Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Belarus by the end of this year. Iranian news agency ISNA quoted company head Javad Najmeddin (جواد نجم الدین) as saying that IKCO was also planning to produce 2,000 cars at its plant in Belarus in 2012.

Established in 1962 in Tehran, the state-owned IKCO is one of the largest car-makers in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa, producing cars, trucks, minibuses and buses.

Among the cars manufactured by IKCO are Suzuki Grand Vitara, Peugeot Roa, Peugeot 405 and Peugeot 206. The company operates plants in Iran, Azerbaijan and Belarus.

The car-maker is also in talks to supply vehicles to other former Soviet countries, as well as to African and Latin American states. The company currently exports 7% of its vehicles, and the figure is expected to rise to 12% in 2012, and to 20% in the next few years.

Iran boasts to produce 1,400,000 cars per year. However, some specialists believe the real production is less than 300,000 units per year with a total capacity of 500,000.