SAIPA (, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. The SAIPAC (an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'' lit. ''Iranian Limited Company for the Production of Citroën Automobiles'') was established in 1965 as with 75%

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian ownership, to assemble

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

s under license for the Iranian market. It changed its name into SAIPA (''Société anonyme iranienne de production automobile'') in 1975 when Citroën withdrew from the company. Its products in recent years have been mostly under-licensed Korean cars and its own engine and range of cars. The

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

) of SAIPA is Ali Sheikhzadeh. The main subsidiaries of SAIPA Group are

Saipa Diesel SAIPA Diesel Company, originally branded Iran Kaveh, is an Iranian-based manufacturer of trucks and trailers. Beginnings The company began operations in 1963 under an exclusive agreement with Mack Trucks to assemble their trucks and various ty ...

Pars Khodro Pars Khodro () is an Iranian automobile manufacturer. It was the first manufacturer of sport utility vehicles ( SUVs) in Iran. History Formerly, Pars Khodro built American Motors' Rambler and General Motors (GM) products under licence. Its first ...

and

Zamyad Co. Zamyad. (Persian: خودروسازی زامیاد, ''Xodrosāzi-ye Zāmyād'') is an Iranian commercial vehicle manufacturing company. It was founded in 1963 as part of the RENA Industrial Group in Tehran. In 1963, the company began producing Volv ...

History

SAIPA began by assembling Citroën's two-cylinder mini car, the Dyane, in 1968. It went under the name Jyane (or Jian) in Iran. SAIPA built 120,000 Jyane models. There was also a glazed panel van version of the Jyane, as well as the

Baby-Brousse The Baby-Brousse is a Citroën 2CV-based utility vehicle, initially privately built, that later spawned the FAF series of vehicles. Similar to a metal-bodied Citroën Méhari, the Baby-Brousse was a success with more than 31,000 being built from 1 ...

, a rustic little buggy in the style of a

Citroën Méhari The Citroën Méhari is a lightweight recreational and utility vehicle, manufactured and marketed by French carmaker Citroën over 18 years in a single generation. Built in front-wheel drive, front-wheel (1968–1988) and four-wheel drive (1 ...

but with a metal body. Later, a pickup version of the Jyane also appeared. The Baby-Brousse was built from 1970 until 1979. In 1975 Saipa began manufacturing licensed versions of the original

Renault 5 The Renault 5 is a five-passenger, three or five-door, front-engine, front-wheel drive hatchback supermini manufactured and marketed by the French automaker Renault over two generations: 1972–1985 (also called R5) and 1984–1996 (also call ...

and later the

Renault 21 The Renault 21 is a large family car produced by French automaker Renault between 1986 and 1994. It was also sold in North America initially through American Motors dealers as the Renault Medallion and later through Jeep-Eagle dealers as the Eag ...

. Production of Citroëns ended in 1980. From 1986 to 1998 SAIPA built the Z24 pickup, a license-built version of the 1970-1980

Nissan Junior The Nissan Junior was a series of medium-sized pickup trucks built from 1956 until 1982. It was introduced to fill the gap between the smaller, Datsun Bluebird based Datsun Truck, and heavier load capacity Nissans under the Nissan Diesel brand, ...

with a 2.4-litre engine. In 1998 SAIPA took over the Zamyad company, which then undertook the production of the Z24. Since 2003, this truck has been sold under the Zamyad brand. Renault 5 production ended in 1994 (

took over the production lines) and the 21 was discontinued in 1997. In 1993 a relationship with

KIA Kia Corporation (, formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業) and Kia Motors Corporation) is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second larges ...

began, and production of the

Kia Pride The Kia Pride is a subcompact car sold by the South Korean automobile manufacturer Kia Motors between March 1987 and January 2000, and again since September 2011. Between April 2005 and September 2011 the Kia New Pride had been sold. Original model ...

commenced. SAIPA's Pride is marketed under the names Saba (saloon) and Nasim (hatchback). At the 2001 Tehran Motor Show the liftback Saipa 141 was added to the lineup. This is a five-door version based on the Saba and is somewhat longer than the Nasim. The Pride series cars carry 97% local content. From 2001 to late 2010, SAIPA produced the

Citroën Xantia The Citroën Xantia (pronounced "Zan–ti–a") is a large family car (D-segment, D) produced by the French automaker Citroën, and designed by Gruppo Bertone, Bertone. Presented to the press in December 1992, the car was produced between 1992 a ...

under license. Sedan models of the previous generation

Kia Rio The Kia Rio () is a subcompact car manufactured by Kia from 1999 to 2023. Body styles have included a three and five-door hatchback and four-door sedan, equipped with inline-four gasoline and diesel engines, and front-wheel drive. The Rio ...

were assembled using parts imported from

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

from May 2005 to late 2012, when SAIPA lost its license to produce them. In 2000, SAIPA launched its own design, the 701 Caravan minivan, face-lifted in 2003. In 2002, a lift-back version of the Saba was introduced as the 141. Models

132 132 may refer to: * 132 (number), the natural number following 131 and preceding 133 *AD 132, a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar * 132 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 132 (MBTA bus), a Massachusetts Bay Transportati ...

debuted in 2007 and 111 in 2009. The Iran-made "SAIPA National Engine 231" was introduced in November 2008. In December 2008, the Tiba/Miniator debuted the Tiba with a 4-cylinder gas engine and ABS, averaging 7 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers and putting out with a displacement of 1,500 cc. The price quoted at the time of its launch was less than 100 million rials (US$10,000). The car was designed in country and produced with the services of some 122 local manufacturers. 15,000 Tiba were to be produced in 2009. Production over the succeeding three years was to reach 200,000 per year by a new subsidiary, Kashan SAIPA. The Tiba is expected to replace the

. The share of Tiba/Miniator in SAIPA's exports will be about 20 percent by 2011. The model was originally named Miniator but was later changed to Tiba (gazelle). In 2012, a pick-up version of the SAIPA Pride was introduced as the 151. In 2015, the company began the production of cars derived from Chinese manufacturers. In 2019, it was reported in the press that the SAIPA Quik was due to be assembled by an African firm as the Mureza Prim8 in Rosslyn, South Africa, with the company hoping to start production at the Willowvale Motor Industries plant in Zimbabwe in the following years.

Pars Khodro acquisition

In 2000, SAIPA purchased 51% of

, where it manufactured the Citroën C5. Since 2018, Pars Khodro has mainly assembled a range of Chinese models, but other products include the SAIPA Renault Pars Tondar, an updated locally built version of the first-generation

Dacia Logan The Dacia Logan is a family of automobiles produced and marketed jointly by the French manufacturer Renault and its Romanian subsidiary Dacia since mid-2004, and was the successor to the Dacia 1310 and Dacia Solenza. It has been produced as ...

, which used to be assembled by SAIPA and its subsidiary Pars Khodro in a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

(Dacia's parent company). Originally known as the Renault Tondar 90, the company received over 100,000 orders for the car within a week of it going on sale in March 2007. Production was launched in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

in 2006 and in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

in 2007.

Models

Historic

Citroën 2CV The Citroën 2CV (, , lit. "two horses", meaning "two Tax horsepower#France, ''taxable'' horsepower") is an economy car produced by the French company Citroën from 1948 to 1990. Introduced at the 1948 Paris Paris Auto Show, Salon de l'Automobi ...

* Citroën Jyane 602 *

Saipa 141 The Ford Festiva is a four passenger, three-door, front-drive subcompact car manufactured in South Korea by Kia, under license from Mazda and marketed by Ford for model years 1986–2002 over three generations in Japan, the Americas, and Austral ...

* Changan Eado * Pars Khodro V5 *

Renault Megane Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company currently produces a range of cars and vans. It has ...

* Nissan New Murano *

Nissan Teana The is a mid-size sedan produced by Japanese automobile manufacturer Nissan. It was exported as the Nissan Maxima and Nissan Cefiro to certain markets. It replaces the Nissan Bluebird, Laurel and Cefiro. It shares a platform with the Nissan M ...

Dongfeng Rich The Dongfeng Rich is a series of pickup trucks produced by the Dongfeng Nissan joint venture of Chinese auto manufacturer Dongfeng Motor Corporation. First generation The first generation Dongfeng Rich is a pickup truck and a SUV based on the des ...

* Nissan Roniz * Zamyad Shooka *

* Pars Khodro Sepand *

Nissan Patrol The is a series of off-road vehicles and full-size SUVs manufactured by Nissan in Japan since 1951 and sold throughout the world. It is Nissan's longest running series of models. The Patrol has been available as either a short-wheelbase (SWB) ...

* Pars Khodro New Sepand * Sherkat Sakami Jeep CJ * Aria and Shahin * Sherkat Sakami Jeep Ahoo and Simorgh *

Opel Commodore The Opel Commodore is an executive car (E-segment) produced by Opel from 1967 to 1986. It is the six-cylinder variant of the Opel Rekord, Rekord with styling differences. The Commodore nameplate was used by Opel from 1967 to 1982 in Europe and t ...

* Chevrolet Iran *

Chevrolet Nova Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

* Buick Iran * Sherkat Sakami Jeep Gladiator * Cadillac Iran *Saipa Caravan * Jeep Sahra *

Citroën C3 The Citroën C3 is a supermini car ( B-segment) produced by Citroën since April 2002. It replaced the Citroën Saxo in the model line up, and is currently in its fourth generation. Initial models of the Citroën C3 were built using the same p ...

Current

Other Models

Kia Cerato The Kia Cerato (also known as the Kia Forte in North America, K3 in South Korea or the Forte K3 or Shuma in China) is a compact car produced by the South Korean manufacturer Kia since 2003. In 2008, the Cerato nameplate was replaced by the Forte ...

Kia Forte The Kia Forte (), known as the K3 in Asia, the Forte K3 or Shuma in China and Cerato in South America, Australia, New Zealand and Russia, is a compact car manufactured by South Korean automaker Kia from mid-2008 until 2024, replacing the Kia S ...

Citroën C3-XR The Citroën C3-XR is a Chinese-exclusive subcompact crossover from the Franco- Chinese joint venture Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën. A three-box version has been marketed from 2020 to 2021 under the name Citroën C3L. Overview Originally previe ...

Jinbei Haise The Jinbei Haise (金杯海狮) is a 4-door mid-size van produced by Chinese automaker Jinbei since 1991. The Jinbei Haise started out as a licensed rebadged Toyota HiAce The (pronounced "High Ace") is a light commercial vehicle produced b ...

* Zamyad Padra * Iveco Azar Minibus

References

External links

Saipa Official Website

Saipa Official English Website

Saipa
Official page on Instagram
Saipa
Official page on Facebook {{TSE Companies of Iran Car manufacturers of Iran Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1966 Companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange Companies in the TSE TEFIX-30 Iranian brands Motor vehicle engine manufacturers Engine manufacturers of Iran Manufacturing companies based in Tehran Iranian companies established in 1966