Japan boosts car production in SE Asia

Japan boosts car production in SE Asia

TOKYO (Nikkei): Industry sources said Japanese automakers are boosting production in Southeast Asia, with output likely to rebound to around 700,000-800,000 vehicles in 1999 from nearly 400,000 in 1998, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Tuesday evening edition.

Last year's figure was about one-third that of the 1996 peak.

A recovery trend in automobile output for the Southeast Asian market will "become much clearer by next spring," according to Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Hiroshi Okuda.

Southeast Asian facilities of Toyota and Honda Motor Co. are operating at almost full capacity, with monthly output expanding 100 percent to 300 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Toyota's output in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines doubled year on year to 57,000 units in January- August, company sources said.

In the same period, Honda saw production at its Thai factory rise by 120 percent to about 20,000 vehicles.

The Honda plant made 120 units a day employing only a day shift, but workers began overtime in September to catch up with orders, company sources said.

Thanks to higher exports to the rest of Asia, the Thai factory of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. expects to see its 1999 output reach around 80,000 units, approaching the 87,700 produced in 1996.

Its January-August output rose 27 percent year on year to 48,200 vehicles. The plant currently operates two shifts a day, with workers doing some overtime throughout the week.

According to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, the total output of passenger cars, trucks and vehicles by Japanese automakers (original equipment manufacturers) in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines plunged to 390,000 units in 1998 due to the Asian economic crisis, compared with 1.1 million units in the peak year of 1996.