Kuala Lumpur, 2007 Nov 11,  IQNA

Malaysia, Iran and Turkey plan to build an "Islamic car" fitted with a compass to find the direction of Makkah, and a compartment to keep the Quran in, the Malaysian state news agency said.

Malaysian automaker Proton's managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said during a visit to Tehran that the vehicle would be aimed at the global export market.

"We will identify a car that we can develop to be produced in Malaysia, Iran or Turkey," he told the Bernama agency in a weekend report.

"The car will have all the Islamic features and should be meant for export purposes," he said, adding that it would feature a compartment for keeping the Muslim holy book the Quran, and prayer scarves.

Syed Zainal said the vehicle was an Iranian initiative.

"What they (Iran) want to do is to call that an Islamic car," he said, giving no further details.