The Jakarta Post - PT General Motors Indonesia, a subsidiary of American automaker General Motors that sells its Chevrolet marque, says it will reopen its Pondok Ungu manufacturing plant in Bekasi, West Java, with an investment of US$150 million.
GM Southeast Asia operations president Martin Apfel said Friday that improving macroeconomic conditions, good market dynamics and the country's expanding middle class were the major reasons behind the company's decision to reactivate the plant after shutting it down in early 2005.
"We expect the 11-hectare plant to start producing 40,000 cars in 2013 and to create 800 new jobs," he told reporters at a media gathering.
He said that the company planned to manufacture 7-seat MPVs at the plant as the segment was growing in Indonesia.
Apfel declined to discuss further details on the name, design specifications or pricing of the vehicle to be made in Bekasi, saying that details "would be announced soon".
He said the Pondok Ungu plant would meet demand from the Indonesian market and also from foreign markets.
The plant is expected to strengthen GM's Southeast Asian production hub, which included manufacturing plants in Rayong, Thailand, and Hanoi, Vietnam, he said.
"[The plant] will be an important part of General Motors' growth strategy in the Southeast Asian region," he said.
GM Indonesia president director Marcos Purty said that the assembly process would use more than 40 percent local content.
He added that the localization of as many specific vehicle components as possible would be an important part of the firm's future plans.
GM Indonesia sold around 4,500 cars last year, up 72 percent from about 2,600 in 2009, and sold 2,500 cars in the first six months of 2011.
The Pondok Ungu manufacturing plant opened in the 1990s, producing Opel cars before it was shut in 2005. Discussions on reactivating the plant started in 2009, when GM said it would be reopened in 2011.
According to estimates, Indonesia will produce about 800,000 cars this year and more than 1 million cars a year in the near future.
PT Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia has announced a plan to invest Rp 1.7 trillion ($198.9 million) in 2012 to boost production at one of its three factories.
Carmaker PT Astra Daihatsu Motor recently began construction of a new factory in East Karawang, West Java, with an anticipated investment of Rp 2.1 trillion.
Meanwhile, Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings, through its local subsidiary PT Geely Mobil Indonesia, plans to construct an assembly plant in Cikarang, Bekasi, with an investment of up to US$50 million. The plant is expected to start its operation in 2015.
Nissan, BMW, and Peugeot have also expressed plans to increase local investments.
