JNN 21 Nov 2010 The managing director of Iran-Khodro Company (IKCO) says the Iranian carmaker has manufactured 800,000 vehicles so far this Iranian calendar year (started March 21).

“More than 800,000 vehicles have been produced in Iran-Khodro Company in the current year,” Mehr news agency quoted Javad Najmeddin as saying on Sunday.

Najmeddin also noted that IKCO also exported more than 55,000 vehicles — some 7 percent of total sales — to other countries.

He said the company, the Middle-East’s largest automaker, has an annual turnover of some 90 trillion rials (around $9 billion).

The company also boosted its production capacity by 28 percent in the first half of this year.

IKCO was founded in 1962 and is currently regarded as the biggest carmaker in the Middle East. The automaker made 688,000 passenger cars in 2009.

Iran’s largest carmaker manufactures vehicles including sedans, trucks, minibuses and buses.

The company plans to increase its annual exports to more than 600,000 cars by 2016.