The IKCO Samand is an Iranian sedan produced by IKCO. The Samand production project began in 2001 and the first car was sold the same year. The Samand replaces Iran's previous national automobile, the Paykan, which was sold by Iran Khodro from 1967 to 2005.[1]
Engine and components
IKCO Samand LXInterior view
The Iranian-designed Samand uses the Peugeot 405 platform, equipped with either IKCO-designed EF7 engines or PSAXU7JP/L3 engines, amongst others. IKCO manufactures 80% of Samand's parts domestically, including its Iranian-designed engine.
For export markets (and also the Iranian market), IKCO uses the Peugeot TU5JP4 engine. This is because the TU5 is a low-consumption and powerful engine, and because of the ease of finding its parts all over Europe, since the TU5 has been used for the Peugeot 206, Peugeot 307 and Peugeot 207.
The TU5 version of Samand comes with three new options: driver airbag, pre-tensioner seatbelts, headlight height adjuster and active antenna. The car uses Peugeot 405 components.
Since early 2009, IKCO has used newly developed Iranian engines such as a dual-fuel national engine for its new models (EF7).
In mid-2010, IKCO started to install petrol-only EF7 engines on Samand. The engine is not a petrol-based version of EF7 but the compressed natural gas (CNG) parts of the engine are removed and also the engine control unit (ECU) programme. However, the petrol-based version of the engine is currently under development.
In 2009, IKCO announced that they will produce Samand with their new engine EFD in 2010; however, due to the required tests for the engine, readying the car for installing the engine on it and also lack of distribution the Euro IV diesel fuel in the country postponed the production time to 2011.
On November 30, 2010 IKCO announced the major changes made in Samand compared to dual-fuel or single fuel Samands for making it compatible for installing the EFD engine on.
This main changes are: changing the radiator, installing the intercooler, water and hydraulic hoses, engine housings, exhaust system gearbox and the engine compartment insulations.[2]
Production facilities
The Samand was manufactured in Minsk, Belarus, by the Unison firm, alongside Lublin vans, from 2006 to 2013. Unison signed a new agreement with Iran Khodro in 2018 to produce other car models.[3]
