Paykan
Encyclopedia
The Paykan was an automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
produced by the Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian company Iran Khodro
Iran Khodro
Iran Khodro Company, also known as IKCO, is the leading Iranian automaker with headquarters in Tehran. The company's original name was Iran National. IKCO was founded in 1962 and it produced 688,000 passenger cars in 2009...
(formerly called "Iran National") Industrial Group. The car was very popular in Iran from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. It is often referred as the Iranian "chariot".
The Paykan design was based on the 1967 Hillman Hunter
Hillman Hunter
Rootes Arrow was the manufacturer's name for a range of cars produced under several badge-engineered marques by the Rootes Group from 1966 to 1979. It is amongst the last Rootes designs, developed with no influence from future owner Chrysler...
, which was originally designed and manufactured by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Rootes Group.
The design was introduced to Iran by Mahmoud Khayami
Mahmoud Khayami
Mahmoud Khayami, CBE, KSS, GCFO is an Iranian industrialist and philanthropist, of French nationality.-Life:Khayami had an active role in the company Iran National or IKCO) , automobile manufacturing and the introduction of the Paykan car to Iran in a...
, co-founder and, by then, owner of the Iran Khodro
Iran Khodro
Iran Khodro Company, also known as IKCO, is the leading Iranian automaker with headquarters in Tehran. The company's original name was Iran National. IKCO was founded in 1962 and it produced 688,000 passenger cars in 2009...
(formerly called "Iran National") company and factory, who accurately predicted that Iran was in need of a simple "no-frills" automobile within the price range of ordinary people.
In 1967, Rootes began exporting Hunters to Iran Khodro in "complete knock down" (CKD) kit form, for assembly in Iran. In 1972 it seemed that every car in Iran was a Paykan. By the mid 1970s, full scale manufacture of the car, less the engine, had started in Iran.
In 1978, Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
took over the Rootes company after it collapsed under the ownership of Chrysler Europe
Chrysler Europe
Chrysler Europe was a division of the Chrysler Corporation that operated between 1967 and 1979.-Formation:In the 1960s, Chrysler sought to become a world producer of automobiles. The company had never had much success outside North America, contrasting with Ford's worldwide reach and General...
; a year later Peugeot ended Hunter production. Thereafter, the Paykan's engine production tooling was moved to Iran and was in full-scale manufacture under Peugeot license until 2005.
Although Paykan was based on an old 1966 model, there were many changes and modifications made to it over the years, notably the substitution, for the original 1725 cc Rootes engine, of a Peugeot 504
Peugeot 504
The Peugeot 504 is a large family car manufactured by French automaker Peugeot between 1968 and 1983, with licensed production continuing until 2006.-1968 — introduction:...
-derived unit. The modifications to the exterior included a new stock body kit and head and tail lights.
The Iranian government reportedly offered Iran Khodro a large cash incentive to end Paykan production by 2005, labeling the car as an environmental hazard and because of its unacceptably high fuel consumption. During its last years the order backlog was nearly two years long.
The Samand, commonly referred to as the "New Paykan", is currently being produced by Iran Khodro
Iran Khodro
Iran Khodro Company, also known as IKCO, is the leading Iranian automaker with headquarters in Tehran. The company's original name was Iran National. IKCO was founded in 1962 and it produced 688,000 passenger cars in 2009...
as a modern substitute for the Paykan class of cars. In 2005, Iran Khodro announced that it had sold the discontinued Paykan's automobile production line to the Khartoum Transportation Company in Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, while auto-parts production for the Paykan still continues by third party manufacturers in Iran.