Iran’s largest carmaker, the Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), says production for Peugeot 405 has ended after 25 years and no new orders will be submitted for the once popular French model.
IKCO’s CEO Farshad Moghimi said on Sunday that Peugeot 405 had been removed from the company’s production network for good.
“Based on the decision we have this car is no longer available for presale,” said Moghimi, according to remarks covered by the IRIB News.
The announcement marks an end to a long journey for Peugeot 405 in Iran, a car which reached peaks of sale just years after it hit the roads in the country in 1995.
IKCO’s own model Samand, a sedan popular in Iran and countries in the region, is based on the French model.
Production for Peugeot 405 had continued even after 2012 when the French manufacturer decided to halt supply of spare parts to IKCO under pressure from new American shareholders in Peugeot.
Moghimi said a handful of Peugeot 405 cars were being produced at the IKCO to respond to orders registered in recent months.
He said those previous orders would be fully seen to in May and the IKCO would then introduce new and more efficient cars to replace the French model.
The IKCO closed production lines in late March after the spread of the new coronavirus in Iran.
However, the company gradually resumed production earlier this month and increased it after the government eased some of its lockdown measures over the pandemic.
Moghimi said output at IKCO had rebounded to reach over 2,000 cars a day, adding that the company’s production on Saturday had topped 2,300 units to compensate for losses suffered during the pandemic-related closure.