Mystery over Iranian MG Rover bid - BBC

Confusion surrounds the intentions of three Iranian carmakers reported as forming a joint venture to take over MG Rover and its Longbridge car plant. Reports on Friday said car firms Saipa, Khodro, and Dastaan were told by the Iranian government to make the offer.

A spokesman for the Iranian embassy in London admitted government firm Khodro had "expressed an interest" in Rover. He said he was unaware of any deal with Dastaan, which was due to take 2,000 cars from Rover before it collapsed.

See my earlier post on the Iranian automobile industry.

The BBC pointer comes from Mr. M. A. who writes, "I should mention that the Samand is the revolutionary improved version of Paykan which you mentioned 3 years ago in ECO 201 class. Paykan is no more produced because of inefficiency." It's nice to know that some students have long memories. Mr. M. A. was one of several very bright, well prepared, and highly motivated students that made quite a difference for me my first semester here. As this young university's reputation goes from good to very good we are attracting more and more of this kind of student. The student population here has more in common with the student population in North America universities than there are differences.

The most potent difference for our students is in environment they will enter into after they graduate.