Reporting "Asre Khodro", Four models have joined the tiny club of four-star cars, the report, which covered the one-month period from April 21 to May 2, indicates.

Two of the cars are Hyundai models produced by a local carmaker in collaboration with the South Korean auto giant.

Cars in Iran are ranked from one to a maximum of five stars by ISQI. None of the cars produced by Iranian auto manufacturers have received more than four stars so far since the system was launched in the recent past.

The new models that have joined the four-star cars club now are Hyundai i10 and i20 recently put on sale by Kerman Motor, and Tondar 90 and Pars Tondar (both face-lifted models of Renault’s Logan), produced by IKCO and Pars Khodro respectively.

Considering that Pars Khodro is a subsidiary of SAIPA, with three cars in the exclusive club, the automotive firm is ahead of its rival IKCO, the top Iranian auto producer.

Cars that have scored four stars in the previous ISQI ranking are: New Mazda3 (Bahman Motor), Grand Vitara (Iran Khodro), Renault Sandero (Pars Khodro) and the 2011 Kia Cerato (SAIPA).

The report also indicates that Iranian automakers’ output observed a 53% jump during the one month period compared to the previous month. They produced 64,219 cars and light-duty vehicles during the period.

With 11 models, the list of one-star cars is still the most crowded. SAIPA and IKCO each have five cars in this list along with the Chery QQ produced by the Chinese company’s local subsidiary.

  Pickup Trucks

According to ISQI, light-duty vehicles like pickup trucks have a meager share of 1% in the production rate.

From the seven models of pickup trucks tested by ISQI during the one-month period, only two models got more than one star.

Tondar pickup truck produced by IKCO has three stars while Foton produced by one of the company’s subsidiaries has been able to earn two stars.

Source: financialtribune.com