During his time as mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad insisted on driving the Peugeot, which lacks mod cons such as air conditioning, instead of using an official limo.
One of his first moves as president was to donate the priceless Persian carpets in his office to mosques in Tehran, replacing them with cheap rugs.
Aides claim Ahmadinejad brings a simple, packed lunch to work every day, where he puts in 18-hour days.
“Now he’s chauffeur-driven around in a bullet-proof Mercedes,” Meir Javedanfar, co- author of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran, a biography of Mr Ahmadinejad, told The Scotsman.
Iranian officials said the starting price for the Peugeot would be announced soon. The money will go to a charity providing affordable housing to the poor.
A populist hardliner, Ahmadinejad calls his personal website Mardomyar, or the People’s Friend.
His strong rhetoric against the US and Israel and unbending stance on Iran’s nuclear programme has proved popular at home but has enraged the West.
Last year, international criticism intensified when his re-election caused his country’s worst political unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Post published in: News