History
Formerly, Pars Khodro built American Motors' Rambler and General Motors (GM) products under licence. Its first cars, the Aria and the Shahin, were based on AMC's compact 1966 Rambler American and were launched in 1967. Production ended in 1974. It also built Jeep vehicles under licence. The company was called Sherkat-Sahami Jeep at the time.
In June 1972, Sherkat-Sahami inked a deal with GM and formed General Motors Iran Ltd. GM Iran produced Opels under licence, using the Chevrolet brand. These models featured 2.5 and 2.8 litre engines. In addition, a Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet (Nova) were built, along with a Chevrolet pick-up truck. The Jeep continued during this time. These were built until 1981, the Iranian Revolution forcing the cessation of their manufacture and links with GM.
Afterward, Pars Khodro switched to the manufacture of the Nissan Patrol under licence.
In 1997, it acquired an additional Renault 5 assembly line from SAIPA, a fellow Iranian manufacturer, which had been making the car since 1980 as a replacement for the Iranian-built Citroën Dyane. The Sepand I and II were versions of the original Renault 5.
In 2000, 51 per cent of Pars Khodro's shares were purchased by SAIPA, which in turn is 48 per cent owned by the Iranian Government.
Read more about this topic: Pars Khodro
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Systematic philosophical and practical anti-intellectualism such as we are witnessing appears to be something truly novel in the history of human culture.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“The steps toward the emancipation of women are first intellectual, then industrial, lastly legal and political. Great strides in the first two of these stages already have been made of millions of women who do not yet perceive that it is surely carrying them towards the last.”
—Ellen Battelle Dietrick, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)