Daihatsu boosts KL stake

Daihatsu boosts KL stake

TOKYO (AFP): Japanese minicar maker Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd.
will take a majority stake in its Malaysian auto joint venture to
raise output capacity there by 25 percent, a report said Sunday.

The automaker, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Co., plans to
boost its 25-percent stake in the Malaysian partner Perusahaan
Otomobil Kedua Sdn. Bhd. (Perodua) and take over the management,
the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.

Daihatsu also aims to increase its annual output capacity at
the firm by a quarter to 150,000 vehicles, the leading business
daily reported.

The move is aimed at strengthening the health of the Malaysian
firm ahead of the introduction by 2003 of the ASEAN Free Trade
Area (AFTA), which will reduce tariffs for most products in the
region to a maximum of five percent.

An end to Malaysia's high import tariffs on cars, which had
benefited the partners, forces them to boost competitiveness, the
paper said. Malaysia has obtained a two-year reprieve for its
auto industry until 2005.