Humpuss, Detroit sign agreement

JAKARTA (JP): After nearly 12 months of negotiations, a U.S. heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturer, Detroit Diesel Corporation, yesterday appointed an affiliate of the Humpuss Group to act as its sole distributor in Indonesia.

Under an agreement signed here yesterday, PT Mahasara Buana (Mabua), a Humpuss affiliate operating in trade and construction, will establish a new company to distribute Detroit's products.

The agreement was signed by Detroit's chairman, Roger S. Penske, Detroit's vice president for Asia, John Cousins, Mabua's president, Soetikno Soedarjo, and Humpuss's chairman, Hutomo Mandala Putra.

Penske said that Mabua will also be allowed to sell Detroit's products in other Asian countries, especially within the Southeast Asian region.

"Our main market is the northern American countries, but now we have the opportunity to enter the Asian market through Indonesia," he said.

Detroit began operation in 1988 as the successor to the heavy diesel engine business of the Detroit Diesel Allison division of General Motors Corporation, of which Penske controls 60 percent ownership, while General Motors owns the rest.

Before 1988, General Motors had appointed PT Garuda as its Indonesian distributor but the agency cooperation was terminated, according to Penske, who is a famous racer.

Soetikno said that an executive of Detroit, Joop Heilijgers, will be assigned as a manager in the new company which will be established by Mabua later this year with an investment of about Rp 3 billion (US$1.37 million).

He said that the increasing need for transportation of goods and passengers in Indonesia promises that diesel engines for trucks, buses, boats and power generation will be a major market for Detroit. (icn)