It seems that Jinan Youngman, who recently went on a joint venture shopping spree is ready to terminate its joint venture with the Iranian Khodro group.
Youngman recently signed up with Proton to bring the Gen2 Racer to China under an OEM re-badging deal, Youngman also signed up with ZAP to possibly make some kind of electric car, and also with the Iranian car company Khodro
It seems that the decision to separate is a mutual one, as Youngman wish to further their own brand, Europestar (the brand which carries the Gen2 racer) and Khodro have signed a deal with Chery in Iran which they wish to concentrate on.
The Youngman Khodro joint venture would have seen the Iranian marque produce its cars in Tai’an, Shandong province. The two parties reportedly injected 60 million dollars into the joint ventureship, and were planning to pour upto 200 million dollars into it once production was up and running. Youngman have a 70 percent stake in the deal, and Khodro own a 30% stake. The original plan was to produce the Khodro Saren, and the Samand LX in China. The Samand LX seems to be based on an older Peugoet 405 design.
The factory that was planned to be producing Khodro cars in late 2008, isnt yet built - this automotive divorce (clearly the result of a shotgun joint venture) may well be a messy one.
If Subaru can’t find a viable manufacturing role in China it’s no wonder that Khodro, or Proton, or Lada can’t either.
Im wondering if Subaru were limited by their Big Brother, Toyota, in the Chinese market place.
Rumor has it that Teheran is looking for a low cost partner. The cars built are slated to be export to Iraq for short service. No crash test(s) are needed since the goal is “to have a car that will meet and exceed any suicide bomber’s expectations”. As to date no suicide customer has complained to Khroda…