TEHRAN Iran's national car, 'Samand' will appear on markets in the near future, reported Iran Khodro Vehicle Company here Sunday.

The Samand X7 is the first vehicle, completely designed and built by Iranian exprts. The model was initially designed in 1995 in Iran Khodro Company.

The vehicle has been designed based on the latest European export standards and incorporates preferences by domestic consumers.

The name Samand was suggested by President Khatami and it means 'dream horse' or a 'golden horse' in Persian.

Meanwhile, during the first five months of the current Iranian year (starting March 21), the production of different kinds of cars and vans increased by 15,916 to 114,299, the Iranian Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO) as saying here on Monday.

"During the period, some 29,723 Pride and 10,432 Peugeot RD cars were produced by different Iranian auto-manufacturing companies," it said, noting the figures show rises of 121 percent and 141 percent respectively, compared to the corresponding figures in the preceding year.

It added that the production of Peugeot models, 405 and Pars, during the said period reached 9,990, "indicating an increase of 149 percent compared to the last year's figures".

"The companies during the five-month period manufactured some 1,204 Peugeot 206 and Paykan X7 combined," it said, adding the total production of Xantia car and Caravan van reached 171.

It further noted that the production of Benz trucks, Volvo F12 as well as Nissan vans chalked up 895, 415 and 6,535 respectively, "showing increase of 166 percent, 119 percent and 131 percent respectively, compared to the figures in the previous year".