Nissan To Make Indonesia Regional Production Hub

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, March 20 (Bernama) -- Japanese car maker Nissan has pledged to further strengthen its presence in Indonesia to support its programme to make Indonesia a production hub for Southeast Asia. Indonesian Industry Minister MS Hidayat said the company planned to invest US$400 million to expand the production capacity of its existing production plant in Purwakarta, West Java, from the current 100,000 units to 250,000 units per year in 2014. "Nissan also expressed interest in producing low-cost and green cars and they claimed they were ready to fulfill all specification and requirements set by the government," Hidayat was qouted as saying by English daily the Jakarta Post Tuesday. Regulations and incentives for the low-cost and green cars are expected to be issued next month. The daily reported that Indonesia has emerged as one of the top market targets for car producers due to the robust growth in car sales in the past several years. According to the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo), domestic car sales hit an all-time high of 894,180 units last year, up by 19.93 percent from 2010. This year, sales continue to show positive progress and as February sales have hit 162,772 units, growing more than 13 percent compared to the same period last year. -- BERNAMA