Suzuki to relocate motorcycle plant from Thailand to Indonesia
Thursday, November 12, 2009 01:04 WIB
(ANTARA News) - Japanese automotive company Suzuki plans to relocate its motorcycle plant from Thailand to Indonesia in 2010, citing the huge market as one of its reasons.
"Suzuki originally wanted to develop (motorcycle industry) in Thailand but it later decided to switch to Indonesia," PT Suzuki Indomobil Motor (SIM) President Director Yoshiji Terada said here on Wednesday.
The other reasons behind the company`s plan to relocate the plant were that Indonesia had large oil/gas, non-oil/non-gas potentials and high demand for transportation means, he said.
In addition to meeting domestic needs, PT SIM also exports its products to the Philippines.
"So far, we have exported 10,000 completely knocked down (CDK) motorcycles to the Philippines per month," he said.
Suzuki would resume motorcycle exports to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, he said adding nearly 90 percent of the exported motorcycles` components came from Indonesia.
"ASEAN is the target of our products," he said.
Previously, Terada said the company would raise its investment in Indonesia by US$50 million to increase its production capacity by 40 percent next year.
The additional investment would enable the company to raise its production to 720,000 units from the current 500,000-600,000 units per year, he said.
The investment would mostly be used to double the production of motorcycles of skutic type which currently stood at 200,000 units a year, he said.
PT SIM would also launch at least seven new types of motorcycles, including those of skutic type. But most of the new products would be underbone and backbone motorcycles, he said.(*)
do 12 nov 2009 - 9:12
