TEHRAN- Iran manufactured 410,673 passenger cars during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 22), a 20.9 percent growth compared to the same period of time in the past year, IRIB reported on Monday.

Car output in the country stood at 420,000 in the four-month period, showing 20 percent rise year on year, according to Industry Minister Mohammadreza Nematzadeh.

The country’s car output had also witnessed 12.5 percent growth in the first quarter of the current year compared to the same period last year, as 306,545 cars were manufactured in the country during the three-month period.

Iran manufactured 1.3 million cars in the past calendar year. The figure is hoped to reach 1.6 million by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2018), Nematzadeh has said.

The share of Iran’s auto industry in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to rise by 70 percent in the current Iranian year.

MA/MG