Kijang wins ICSA for fifth time

JAKARTA: The Toyota Kijang Innova won the Indonesian Customer Satisfaction Award (ICSA) in the non-sedan category for the fifth consecutive year. The award was presented by SWA magazine, in cooperation with the Frontier research institution and SWANETWORK.

The ICSA survey was conducted in six major cities -- Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan and Makassar -- and involved 10,500 respondents between the ages of 15 and 65.

"The award, the fifth year in a row, proves that Toyota has consistently maintained customer satisfaction," said PT Toyota Astra Motor president director Johnny Darmawan.

"The award will boost our efforts to improve our product quality, as well as our after-sales services," he said.

Toyota Astra Motor sold a total of 57,488 units of the Innova from January to August this year, a 76 percent increase over the 32,552 units sold in the same period last year. The company sold a total of 54,857 units of the Innova in 2004. -- JP

;JP;DAN; ANPAf..r.. Brief-Steel-maker Steel maker to be built in Karawang JP/14/Brief

Steel plant to be built in Karawang

JAKARTA: A joint venture agreement was signed last weekend on the establishment of a steelmaker in the West Java industrial town of Karawang.

The agreement was signed by two South Korean firms -- Daewo International Corporation and IS Steel -- and a local producer of automotive and machinery components, publicly listed PT Selamat Sempurna, according to a media statement.

The new company, which will occupy a two-hectare plot of land, is expected to manufacture up to 120,000 metric tons of steel a year. It will reportedly receive start-up capital of US$10 million.

Daewo will hold a 51 percent stake in the new firm, while Selamat Sempurna and IS Steel will have 40 percent and 9 percent stakes, respectively. -- JP

;AFP; ANPAf..r.. Brief-MAS-system Malaysia Airlines to save 40 million dollars a year with new syst JP/14/BRIEF

MAS to save $40m a year

KUALA LUMPUR: Flag-carrier Malaysian Airlines (MAS) said on Monday it expected to save 150 million ringgit (US$40 million) a year after it switches to a new aviation management system by Lockheed Martin.

"The potential fuel and operational cost savings to be derived with the introduction of the new system is in the region of 150 million ringgit per annum, after the project is fully launched by the middle of 2006," said Nawawi Awang, Malaysia Airlines' senior general manager of flight operations.

He was speaking to reporters following the signing of an agreement with Lockheed Martin here.

The contract, which has a start-up cost of 11 million ringgit, calls for an integrated technology suite to be installed at the flight operations dispatch center, located at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, by June 2006, the carrier said in a statement.

The airline recently announced one of its worst ever quarterly losses at 280.66 million ringgit in the three months to June after a profit of 26.58 million ringgit a year earlier.

After the results, Malaysia Airlines announced an ambitious five-year plan to boost profits by up to one billion ringgit, including shaking up its management. -- AFP

;DPA; ANPAf..r.. Brief-UCO-bank India's UCO Bank returns to Malaysia JP/14/BRIEF

UCO Bank returns to Malaysia

SINGAPORE: UCO Bank, the oldest Indian bank in Singapore, marked its return to Malaysia after 36 years with the opening of a representative office on Monday in Kuala Lumpur.

"India's rapid economic growth and its equally rapidly growing business links with Southeast Asia and East Asia provide a new opportunity for our bank to expand in the region," UCO's chairman and managing director told The Straits Times.

V. Sridar also said that UCO had applied to the Chinese central bank to open a representative office in Guangzhou.

"We used to have four branches in Malaysia until 1969, when we were forced to exit," Sridar was quoted as saying.

He noted that Singapore was to be UCO's hub as the bank moved beyond the traditional trade finance business and ethnic Indian clientele to reach out to other areas.

UCO is headquartered in Calcutta, capital of West Bengal province in eastern India.

"As more Singaporean, Malaysian and Chinese businessmen go to India, we are in a position to offer them a wide variety of banking services," Sridar said.

UCO's nationwide network consists of 1,730 branches. -- DPA