Iran Claims It Has Made World's Most Powerful Natural Gas Car

The Middle East's largest automaker has unveiled a four-door sedan, claiming its engine is the world's most powerful run by natural gas. It's a significant development in a country that has converted more than 250,000 cars to run on the stuff.

The company, Iran Khodro, says the turbocharged engine in the Samand Soren ELX produces 150 horsepower, 37 more than the CNG-powered Honda Civic GX and just four short of the gasoline-burning four-cylinder Toyota Camry.

Iran Khodro unveiled the car Saturday in Tehran, and the Tehran Times says it was developed "under the intellectual property of the Islamic Republic of Iran," which explains why there was a picture of the Ayatollah looking over the car.

Company CEO Manouchehr Manteqi says the car meets Euro IV emissions standards and adds, "its nominal power will not decline even at the height of 2,000 meters above sea level." That's 6,561 feet for the metrically challenged, and it's significant because Tehran, like Denver, is located about 5,000 feet above sea level.
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