Khayami brothers
The brothers Khayami , Ahmad Khayami (* 1924 in Mashhad ; † March 2000 ) and Mahmood Khayami (* January 7, 1930 in Mashhad; † February 28, 2020 in Los Angeles , California ) were pioneers in the Iranian automotive industry.
youth
Ahmad and Mahmood Khayani were born in Mashad as the sons of Hajid Ali Akbar Khayami. The brothers went to school in Mashhad, which they graduated with intermediate school leaving certificate. After a few years as casual laborers, they had saved enough money to start their own business. In the mid-1950s, they decided to invest their money in a car wash with an attached garage. During this time, the first regular bus service between Tehran and Mashad began. Up to now, a bus had only set off when all the seats were occupied. Now there was a timetable that had to be adhered to, so that the notoriously repair-prone, decrepit buses were often in the Khayani brothers' workshop in order to be ready to drive again in good time before departure.
Mercedes-Benz dealer
The auto repair shop went well and the brothers decided to expand the repair shop to include an automobile sales room. Ahmad drove to Tehran and persuaded the Sudavar brothers, who had the sole right to import and sell Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Iran, to give them a contract as a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Mashhad. This investment also turned out to be a financial success, which led the brothers to look for new investment opportunities.
Manufacturer of buses
Ahmad Khayani drove to Daimler-Benz in Germany . He offered the company to import kits for buses, to assemble the kits in Iran and to produce the construction of the passenger compartment itself and to assemble it on the kits. The Khayani brothers had previously met with Minister of Economic Affairs Alinaghi Alikhani to apply for a permit to build buses. They told Alikhani that they had gained sufficient experience of repairing and restoring buses in their auto repair shop. And they convinced the Minister of Economics that it was more economical to build buses in Iran than to import buses into Iran.
The management of Daimler-Benz was also impressed by the performance of the brothers and their offer to date and signed a corresponding agreement. It goes without saying that this investment was a success for both Daimler-Benz and the Khayani brothers.
The establishment of Iran National
With the White Revolution , Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ushered in a new phase in Iran's economic development. The government promoted the industrialization of the country by granting low-interest loans, a business-friendly tax policy and high import duties. The Khayani brothers decided to take the opportunity to set up their own automobile production facility in Iran for an inexpensive mid-range sedan, the Paykan . The original plan was based on an annual production of 7,000 vehicles, which was viewed by both the Iranian Ministry of Economic Affairs and the automobile importers as far too optimistic. But the Kayani brothers were not deterred. In 1967 production began with parts initially supplied from Great Britain. The Paykan was based on the British Hillman Hunter . The Paykan would go down in automotive history as the car that, after a few years of use, made its buyer more money than he had paid for the car himself. In part, this was due to the inflation that prevailed in Iran. On the other hand, the demand was far greater than Iran National could supply. In 1978, 12,000 workers produced 136,000 vehicles annually. Production ran in three shifts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At the beginning 80% of the parts used were imported, in 1978 it was only 20%. The rest was made in Iran itself. The Khayami brothers' automobile plants produced buses, trucks, and affordable mid-range vehicles. In 1977 a second production line based on a Peugeot sedan was planned. The cooperation with Peugeot and Mercedes-Benz should be further expanded, and for both partners Iran should become the center of automobile production for the Asian region.
Separate ways
In the mid-1970s, the successful brothers separated. In addition to the automobile factories, they had founded a bank, the Industrial Bank , an insurance company and a national supermarket chain. While Mahmood Khayani continued to take care of automobile production, Ahmad Khayani took over the remaining companies. When the Iranian economy was paralyzed by strikes and demonstrations in 1978, the Khayami brothers' businesses were no exception. They left Iran.
Iran National was nationalized after the Islamic Revolution and renamed Iran Khodro . All rights to the production of the Paykan were sold to Iran in 1978 by Chrysler , which had taken over the Rootes Group. The Paykan was produced as an Iranian vehicle until 2005. The cooperation with Peugeot, initiated by Mahmood Khayami, led to the establishment of production lines for the Peugeot 206 and the Peugeot 405. Iran Khodro also continues to build various trucks under license from Daimler AG and MAN .
Ahmad Khayami died in March 2000. Mahmood Khayami is again selling vehicles for Mercedes in Europe and the USA. He has an art collection and is considered one of the richest men in Great Britain. In June 2007 he donated £ 1 million to the Labor Party .
literature
- Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians . Syracuse University Press, 2008, Vol. 2, pp. 632-636.
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://cfis.columbia.edu/news/mahmoud-khayami-1930-2020
- ↑ Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and times of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009, p. 325.
- ↑ Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians. Syracuse University Press, 2008, Vol. 2, p. 633.
- ↑ Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians. Syracuse University Press, 2008, Vol. 2, p. 635.