Japan's Daihatsu aims to boost business in SE Asia
Japan's Daihatsu aims to boost business in SE Asia
Agence France-Presse, Tokyo
Japanese automaker Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd. said Monday it
hoped to increase investment, production and sales in Southeast
Asia to cut costs and meet a growth in demand.
The firm, a subsidiary of Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., said it
was considering increasing a stake in Indonesian unit PT Astra
Daihatsu Motor from 40 percent.
"We also hope to boost capacity there," said a Daihatsu
spokesman, declining to give a specific target. The Indonesian
plant currently makes 25,000 vehicles a year.
"Additionally, we are looking to raise the percentage of car
parts made locally in Indonesia from 60 percent at present," he
said, adding this would cut costs.
Annual output at the factory is projected to double to 50,000
vehicles by 2005, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper reported
earlier.
Daihatsu would boost its stake in the Indonesian factory to 60
percent from 40 percent as early as this year and raise local
part procurement to 80 percent, the financial daily said, citing
company sources.
At present the automaker makes 40 percent of all parts used by
the Indonesian factory in Japan, said the spokesman.
Daihatsu aims to raise the output capacity at another plant in
Malaysia by 20,000 vehicles to 150,000 by 2005, the spokesman
said, adding the firm also wanted to increase the volume of
vehicles sold outside Japan.
"We sell too little overseas," he said. "We aim to target
Asian markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia, there is a shift at
the moment."
Demand for small cars in Japan remained healthy but a deep
economic slump had hit overall sales in the domestic auto
industry, said the spokesman.
Daihatsu aims to sell 14 percent of its vehicles overseas in
the current financial year to March, and hopes to lift this in
the future, the spokesman said, without citing a figure.
But the Nihon Keizai said the company aimed to boost overseas
sales to more than 20 percent of the total as soon as possible.