Isuzu to form venture in KL

Isuzu to form venture in KL

TOKYO (AFP): Japan's Isuzu Motors Ltd., affiliated with U.S.
auto giant General Motors Corp., is to launch a truck production
joint venture with Malaysian state firms as early as March, an
industrial daily said yesterday.

The venture, known provisionally as Malaysian Truck and Bus,
is to be held 20 percent by Isuzu, and 40 percent each by
governmental investment company Diversified Resources Bhd. and
Hicom Holdings Bhd. of Malaysia, the Nihon Kogyo Shimbun said.

Production will start from June with an affiliated company
producing the trucks.

That company was named by the newspaper as Automotive
Manufacturers Malaysia, which is held 70 percent by Hicom, 25
percent by Isuzu and five percent by Japanese trading house
Itochu Corp.

The Malaysian auto maker produced 14,000 units of Isuzu trucks
in 1996, it said.