Kijang Innova makes export debut to Thailand, Brunei

Kijang Innova makes export debut to Thailand, Brunei

Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Less than three months after the Kijang Innova minivan was
launched domestically, PT Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia
(TMMIN) has sent the first batch of exports to Thailand and
Brunei.

TMMIN president director Sachio Yamazaki said on Friday some
7,000 completely built up (CBU) units of the multipurpose vehicle
would be shipped to Thailand and another 600 CBU units to Brunei.

TMMIN is the manufacturing unit of the country's largest
automotive group, PT Astra International.

"We are committed to contributing to the economic development
of Indonesia. It is as part of that commitment that we start
today to export the Kijang Innova," he said during a ceremony to
mark the first exports.

He said the company planned to export 10,000 CBU units of the
Innova annually to Southeast Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.

The company intends to manufacture 80,000 Innovas each year,
he said. In addition, the company will also export some 130,000
units of fuel engines every year starting in 2005 to Southeast
Asian and South American countries, as well as to India and South
Africa.

Thai consumers will be able to choose from gasoline or diesel
engine Innovas, both with automatic transmission. Both types of
engines meet Euro3 emission standard requirements.

The diesel engine Innovas exported to Brunei will come in
three varieties: two manual transmission versions and one
automatic transmission.

Akira Okabe, the managing director of Toyota Motor
Corporation, said the Kijang Innova was very important to Toyota
as it was the first model the Japanese automaker had manufactured
entirely and exclusively outside of Japan.

"Today is a historic event ... a new chapter in the history of
Toyota and of the world automobile industry," he said.

He said Toyota's confidence in Indonesia had led Japan's
largest automaker to select the country as its global production
base for minivans.

Innova is the new generation of the Toyota Kijang minivan,
which for years has been the top selling car in Indonesia.

The Kijang was an immediate success when it was first
introduced here in 1977.

The Kijang was the first four-wheeled vehicle in the country
to reach the one million production mark. That mark was achieved
in October last year.

Toyota had invested some US$360 million to develop the Innova
in Indonesia, providing 4,500 new jobs.

The new Kijang Innova sold about 3,000 units in September and
about 7,000 in October.

Minister of Industry Andung A. Nitimihardja, who attended the
ceremony on Friday, said he hoped Toyota would continue to assist
the country's small and medium enterprises in developing
automotive components, and increase the number of local suppliers
for Toyota.

Innova is manufactured with 74 percent local content, proving
that Indonesian-made components have the quality to compete in
the global market, the minister said.

"In the future, we are looking forward to seeing Toyota bring
other companies in the Toyota group to invest in the country,
especially the makers of components that Indonesia is still
unable to manufacture," he said.