Morattab is an

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...

manufacturer based in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran. Since 1962, the company has produced versions of the

Series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

under license in Iran. The currently produced models are versions of the "Series IV" made by

Santana Motor Santana Motor, S.A. (; ) was a Spanish motor vehicle manufacturer based in Linares, in the province of Jaén, Spain. It was originally created in 1956 as "Metalúrgica de Santa Ana, S.A." to manufacture agricultural machinery, but soon, in 1961 ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

until the early 1990s, when the production tooling and design were sold to Morattab and shipped to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. After the 1979 Iranian revolution they built unlicensed clones that differ significantly from the final Series III built by Land Rover in the United Kingdom. For example, Series IV models have parabolic

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it ...

s, one-piece

windscreen The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

s and fully fitted interiors. Morattab also fits locally built 1.8-litre 4-cylinder petrol engines derived from

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

instead of the 2.25-litre 4-cylinder or 3.3-litre 6-cylinder engines fitted to the Santana Series IV. In 2003, they launched the production of the

Ssangyong Musso The SsangYong Musso (Korean: 쌍용 무쏘) is a mid-sized SUV or pickup truck manufactured by the South Korean automaker SsangYong from 1993. The Musso SUV was a result of collaboration between SsangYong and Daimler-Benz. The car's design wa ...

History

The Morattab Industrial Manufacturing Company was founded in 1957 – it was named: Sherkat Sahami Am Sanaati Towlidi Morratab (the Morratab Industrial Com.) – initially as an agent and distributor of commercial vehicles and trucks, before branching into the manufacture of Land-Rovers under licence from Rover of England in 1962. The Company was nationalised without compensation to its founders and rightful owners during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The Company's activities continued uninterrupted through the 1970s eventually evolving as one of the largest producers of four wheel drive vehicles in Iran. Following the

1979 Islamic Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

, the Company ownership was transferred to the State, and IDRO (Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran) took control of the Company as the Government industrial arm, and as such, the Company underwent a change in the management (expropriation). Despite this transition, production continued unabated and by 1983 the Company achieved record production levels. In 1996, in conjunction with the industrial

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

and

economic liberalization Economic liberalization (or economic liberalisation) is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liber ...

policies initiated by the Iranian Government, the Company was prepared for privatization. The Government, through

Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran The Industrial Development & Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) known as IDRO Group was established in 1967 in Iran. IDRO Group is one of the largest companies in Iran. It is also one of the largest conglomerates in Asia. IDRO's objective is t ...

(IDRO), was retaining a 33 percent share of the Company until March 2000. After privatization, a comprehensive survey was made to maximize the potential of Morattab. It was within this context that the management of the company decided to expand the production into the manufacture of a modern four-wheel-drive vehicle and finally an agreement was signed with SsangYong Motor Company from Korea in 2002, and the

Musso Munawar Musso (1897, in Kediri, East Java – Madiun, on 31 October 1948) was a leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia and one of the key figures in the 1948 Madiun affair. Biography Early life Musso was born Munawar Musso in 1897, Pagu, ...

was launched into the market accordingly.

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20080915021358/http://www.morattab.ir/ *http://www.morattabkhodro.com/ Car manufacturers of Iran Manufacturing companies based in Tehran {{motorvehicle-company-stub