Hoping for a revolution

IT WAS Koran readings and cakes rather than champagne and canapés at the launch of Iran's long-awaited national car, the X7, at the Tehran car fair this week. Iran has quite a large motor industry. Its main local producer, Iran Khodro, which is 45% state-owned, will turn out some 300,000 vehicles this year; another 150,000 are made by several small joint ventures between foreign car firms and local businesses. Iran Khodro is one of the world's top 20 car makers, with an output twice the size of Malaysia's national car company, Proton, and a home market two-thirds as big as China's. The car industry accounts for one-fifth of Iran's manufacturing. But it is stuck in a time warp behind protectionist barriers, with little foreign investment to drag it into the present.