Honda to build new plant

JAKARTA (JP): PT Federal Motor, the producer of Honda motorbikes, will build a new factory with an annual production capacity of 500,000 units here with investment of about US$100 million, the company's vice president, Ridwan Gunawan, said.

"When the new factory starts operation in 1999, the firm's total production capacity will double to one million units of per annum," said Ridwan.

Federal Motor celebrated its 25th anniversary yesterday by donating 100 units of Honda motorbikes to the municipal administration. the city military command and the city police headquarters.

"Federal Motor will celebrate the five millionth production in November," Ridwan noted.

He said that the domestic market for motorcycle is presently about 1.04 million per year and will increase to about 1.3 million before the year 2000.

"With current production of 520,000 per year, Federal Motor commands 50 percent of the domestic market," said Ridwan, adding that the rest are shared among Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and Vespa. (kod)