Toyota-Astra sets production record

JAKARTA (JP): PT Toyota-Astra Motor set a record yesterday as the first automotive company in Indonesia to produce one million vehicles.

"In the ASEAN region we are the second to reach the million production level after Toyota Motor Thailand, which reached it in March," Toyota-Astra's president, Rudyanto Hardjanto, said yesterday.

In addition to Indonesia and Thailand, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also includes Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The millionth vehicle was a Kijang, launched in ceremony attended by Director General of Machinery, Metal and Chemical Industries Effendi Sudarsono, executive vice president of Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation, Akira Yokoi, and the chief commissioner of PT Astra International, Abdul Rachman Ramly.

Founded in 1971, Toyota-Astra is 51 percent owned by Astra International and 49 percent by Toyota Motor Corporation.

Its products include Crown, Corona, Corolla and Starlet sedans; Kijang and Dyna vans as well as Land Cruiser jeeps.

The Kijang, the most popular vehicle in Indonesia, was first produced in the early 1970s. The company has produced 612,072 Kijangs, representing 60 percent of its total production in 25 years.

Nearly 6,000 Kijang vans have been exported, generating a revenue of Rp 78 billion (US$33 million). The company has exported Rp 98 billion worth of Kijang engines to Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, Rudyanto said.

Rudyanto said the company has invested Rp 730 billion to establish its Kijang production facilities, including a new plant in Karawang, West Java, which is scheduled to start operation in 1998.

Kijang vehicles contain almost 50 percent in local components, the level of which is soon expected to be increased to 60 percent. (jsk)