Kawasaki to build plant

Kawasaki to build plant

TOKYO (AFP): Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. (KHI) plans to build a new plant in Thailand or Malaysia in 1996 to produce key parts of motorcycle engines, a leading business daily reported Saturday.

KHI will invest some 10 billion yen (US$118 million) in the plant which will supply its products to the company's assembly plants at home and in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, the Nihon Keizai said.

The plan is aimed at coping with the yen's sharp appreciation, which erodes the international price competitiveness of KHI's exports out of Japan while reducing costs of imports, the newspaper said.

It added that the new plant would produce crankshafts, camshafts, gears and other key engine parts at an annual rate sufficient to equip some 200,000 motorcycles.