From the New Samand to New Japanese Cars

News sources in Iran have reported the likelihood of unveiling a new generation of vehicles from Iran Khodro under the company's brand. Meanwhile, Japanese companies have also introduced a number of their new products. Iran Khodro has not introduced a new product for several years. After Peugeot's exit from Iran due to U.S. sanctions, the company, which was supposed to produce three new products with Peugeot, sees all its plans as lost. Iran Khodro was also in the process of designing a new platform in collaboration with companies from Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Belgium. However, with the onset of U.S. sanctions, these companies are no longer willing to continue their collaboration for designing and manufacturing a new product with Iran Khodro. The biggest problem for Iran Khodro in introducing a new product is the lack of a new platform. Until now, all products introduced under this company's brand have been developed on the platforms of Peugeot 405 and Peugeot 206, but these platforms have become very outdated. In its recent collaboration with Peugeot, Iran Khodro has been able to access many parts of the knowledge of the new Peugeot platform called PF1, which is used in Peugeot 2008, 301, and 208 vehicles. Automotive media in Iran report that Iran Khodro has now designed a body on this new platform. Iranian television has also published a news report of a visit by Ali Shamkhani, in which he promises a new car and signs a vehicle that has only been partially filmed. This car is likely a new generation of Iran Khodro vehicles bearing the company’s emblem (Samand). Every year at the Geneva Motor Show, the largest car show in the world, the European Car of the Year is announced by the votes of the most famous automotive journalists in Europe. For the largest companies in the world in the European market, the selection of this car is very important as it leads to a significant increase in sales for the automaker whose product is chosen. This year, the new BMW 3 Series, Ford Focus, Audi E-Tron, Hyundai Nexo, Jaguar I-Pace, Mercedes-Benz Class A, Volvo X, Volvo S60 and V60, and Suzuki Jimny have been nominated for this important industrial award. Last year, the Volvo XC40 and the year before that, the Peugeot 3008 were named cars of the year. According to the quality assessment report of passenger cars produced in January, the Hyundai i20, Hyundai Accent, and Kia Cerato, Tondar 90 Plus, Tondar 90 Plus Automatic, Pars Tondar, Renault Sandero Automatic, B30, Changan CS35, and Ario Automatic, Peugeot 207 Automatic and Manual, and Ario Manual received four out of five quality stars. The lowest quality domestic cars are products from the Pride group. These cars have had assembly defects to safety issues. In recent years, there has been a lot of criticism regarding the production of the Pride, and it was supposed to be discontinued this year. However, due to the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iranian automakers have faced problems following the departure of their partner companies in Iran, such as Renault, and the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade of Iran still allows the production of the Pride. Japanese cars have started introducing their new vehicles in a strange competition. Subaru unveiled the 2020 Subaru Legacy. This car is a sporty family sedan that transfers power to all four wheels. It can produce 260 horsepower with a 2.4-liter flat-four gasoline engine. Nissan also introduced the 2020 Qashqai. This mid-size crossover is one of the best-selling cars of this company, built in collaboration with Renault for some parts. This car can produce 141 horsepower with a two-liter gasoline engine. Toyota also unveiled its new mid-size economical crossover named the Toyota RAV4 for 2020. The previous generation of this vehicle was among the best-selling cars in the world last year. This car has a rougher and sportier appearance with the TRD code. Several government officials have been arrested due to the vehicle smuggling case. Jafari Dolat Abadi, the Tehran prosecutor, stated regarding the imported vehicle case: "23 people are detained, of which 5 are detained in Bandar Abbas, 10 are detained in the case of the Miftah Rahnavard vehicle, which is known as the Meysam Rezai case, and 4 government officials in the main case and one government official in Bandar Abbas are also detained. In the early days, the announced figure for vehicle smuggling was six thousand units, but now this figure has increased to eleven thousand units. We aim to reach an accurate figure during the investigations."