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The Paykan ( meaning Arrow) is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro, between 1967 and 2005. The car, formerly called " Iran National", is a licensed version of the British Rootes Arrow (Hillman Hunter) and was very popular in Iran from its introduction until its discontinuation.
The Paykan spawned some locally developed variants, most notably a Coupe Utility named Bardo and having a different body shell from the one sold elsewhere.
The car itself originated in 1966 as the "Arrow" series of vehicles (the most prolific version of which was badged as the Hillman Hunter); designed and manufactured by the Rootes Group, which was the British wing of Chrysler Europe. In 1967, Rootes began exporting Hillman Hunters to Iran Khodro in "complete knock down" (CKD) kit form, for assembly in Iran. By the mid-1970s, full-scale manufacturing of the car (minus the engine) had started in Iran.
In 1977, Roy Axe designed a new Paykan facelift model using many interior and exterior parts from the Chrysler Alpine.
In 1978, PSA Group purchased the ailing Chrysler Europe after Chrysler exited the European market; and with it acquired the rights to the Hillman Hunter/Arrow design. A year later, Peugeot ended Hillman Hunter production in Ireland. Following this, the Paykan's engine production tooling was moved to Iran and was in full-scale manufacturing under Peugeot licence. This ended in 2005 with the final Paykan leaving the assembly line.
Iran Khodro tried to replace Paykan with a so-called "New Paykan" but Peugeot did not agree with the naming. This revealed the fact that the intellectual ownership of the Paykan brand and logo still belongs to PSA Peugeot Citroën, as a legacy of Rootes Group.
The Iranian government reportedly offered Iran Khodro a large cash incentive to end Paykan production by 2005, labelling the car as an environmental hazard because of its unacceptably high fuel consumption. During its last years, the order backlog was nearly two years long.
The IKCO Samand, commonly referred to as the "New Paykan", is currently being produced by Iran Khodro as a modern substitute for the Paykan class of cars. In 2005, Iran Khodro announced that it had sold the discontinued Paykan's motorcar production line to the Khartoum Transport Company in Sudan, while car-parts production for the Paykan still continues by third-party manufacturers in Iran.
The PaykanArtCar art project, started in 2021, use a Paykan as a "canvas".
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