Nissan plans RI project

Nissan plans RI project

TOKYO (AFP): Japan's second largest auto maker, Nissan Motors Co. Ltd., said yesterday it was considering building a plant to produce gasoline engines in Indonesia.

"We are conducting feasibility studies with the prospect of opening a new gasoline engine factory," a spokesman for Nissan said.

He said the production of 1,500cc gasoline engines would be a joint venture, but did not say which partners would participate.

The spokesman declined to state neither the proposed starting year of the construction, nor the total amount of investment.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported the Indonesian Salim Group was likely to join the new Nissan engine line.

The paper said gasoline engine production at the proposed factory would start in 2000 with a capacity to produce 10,000 units a month, with 10 billion yen (US$85 million) in investment.