Malaysia is Avanza's next export destination

Indonesia is known as a good market for multipurpose vehicles (MPVs), as more and more carmakers are setting up plants here to cater not only to Indonesian demand but also regional and even global markets.

Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Company (TMC) has made Indonesia a global base of production for its medium MPV Toyota Avanza, as well as the latest model of the ever-popular Toyota Kijang MPV, the Kijang Innova.

Introduced late last year and with delivery starting in January, some 28,000 Avanzas were sold as of August, with many more people on a waiting list in Indonesia alone.

TMC's subsidiary, PT Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia (TMMIN), announced last Thursday its export activity to Malaysia with an annual capacity of 24,000 units in completely knocked- down (CKD) form.

On May 17, the company began exporting to Thailand with a lower volume of 8,400 units in completely built-up (CBU) form.

"The Toyota Avanza will be assembled by Perodua Auto Corporation Sdn. Bhd, an affiliate company of Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd., and will be marketed and distributed by UMW Toyota Motor Sdn. Bhd.

"The latest exports to Malaysia further prove TMMIN resolves to intensively penetrate the overseas market as a global production base for MPVs with the combination of domestic success and increasing regional opportunity opened by AFTA," the company said in a release.

It also expects that exports will further contribute to the Indonesian economy, promote the growth and development of the Indonesian automobile industry and expand intra-ASEAN trade.

The Toyota Avanza sold to Malaysia, as well as to Thailand, is powered by a 16-valve, double overhead camshaft (DOHC) 1,300 cc engine equipped with variable timing-intelligence (VVT-i) technology that is in compliance with the Euro 2 emission standard.

It also uses a catalytic converter, which requires unleaded fuel.

The variant is known as the Toyota Avanza 1.3S in the Indonesian market; it also comes with an antilock braking system (ABS) and automatic transmission.

Malaysian and Thai buyers, however, also have the option of the Toyota Avanza with manual transmission. The Avanza sells for RM56,000 and RM60,000 (Rp 140 million and Rp 151 million) in Malaysia, and 579,000 baht and 699,000 baht (Rp 134 million and Rp 161 million) for cars equipped with manual and automatic transmission, respectively. -- Novan Iman Santosa