"The expansion is expected to finish in 2013," its president director, Takayuki Kimura, said after meeting with industry minister MS Hidayat here on Monday.
He said the number of workers in the plant was expected to rise from 900 to 1,300 after the expansion was completed. Nissan`s assembling plant is located in Cikampek, West Java.
He said Nissan also planned to join the low cost green car program the regulation of which is currently still being formulated by the Indonesian government.
In view of that the NMI would continue to invest in the country, he said.
"The investment is expected to be able to help and contribute to significantly to automotive industry and economic growth in the country," he said.
Kimura said the plan is part of the company`s mid-term plans called "Nissan Power 88", which is a global strategy launched in June this year to increase Nissan`s brand power and sales to achieve an eight-percent global market share and sustain company`s operational profit.
"To us, the low cost green car program will be one of the NMI`s references to market its cars to wider segments. Our participation in the program is also expected to strengthen Nissan`s presence as producer of the most complete types of cars from MPV Premium Elgrand to compact hatchback March," he said.
He said by introducing an affordable green car Nissan would expand to cover all market segments. The program is also expected to contribute positively to its mid-term business plan in the ASEAN region namely achieving the target of sales of more than 500,000 units and controlling 15 percent of the region`s car market.
He said the additional investment was also aimed at accelerating localization efforts. Nissan plans to boost its research and development center through the expansion of Nissan Technical Center for Southeast Asia-Indonesia (NTCSEA-I).
The expansion will make it possible for the institution to meet the demand of the people by creating high quality product at the right time, he said.
Kimura said through the plan Nissan targeted sales of up to 90,000 units in 2013 while for the year the target is 60,000 units and a more than seven-percent market share.
"We believe the participation of Nissan in the program would contribute significantly to Indonesia`s economy," he said.
(T.ANT-258/H-YH/HAJM/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
