Astra plans to build low-priced sedan

JAKARTA (JP): PT Toyota Astra Motor, a Japanese-Indonesian joint venture, will produce a new sedan in 1999 with a price tag of between Rp 35 million (US$14,385) and Rp 40 million, a company director said.

Johnny Darmawan said Wednesday the 1,600-cc car would be a modification of Toyota's Soluna car. This is being produced in Thailand in cooperation with Toyota Motors of Japan under its Asia Car program.

He said that Toyota Astra, a publicly listed company partly owned by Toyota Motors, would invest US$75 million to build a factory in Cikampek, West Java, to produce the car.

Production would start by the end of next year with an output rate of about 20,000 to 30,000 cars a year, he said.

Darmawan said Indonesia and Thailand were the only countries appointed by Toyota Motors to produce its Asian cars.

Five Indonesian companies are competing in the domestic cheap car market -- Timor, Bimantara Cakra, Suzuki Baleno, Honda City and Daewoo Nexia. The Management Board for Strategic Industries is now developing another cheap car, to be called Maleo.

Darmawan said the domestic sedan market was likely to grow by 25 percent this year, with the Timor car holding a market share of more than 25 percent.

Last year 37,890 sedans were sold on the domestic market. (13)