Japanese auto firm Nissan Motor Co. was reported Monday of planning to invest 40 million US dollars in Indonesia through its local branch PT Nissan Motor Indonesia (NMI) in line with the growing market in the country.

The investment will be used to increase production facility and finance the development of a new model for the Southeast Asian market until 2007, an NMI executive was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia newspaper as saying.

Nissan, which leads sport utility vehicle (SUV) market in Indonesia, plans to expand market in the multi-purpose vehicle ( MPV) segment, said Teddy Irawan, deputy director of sales and marketing.

He said Nissan has targeted sales of 15,000 units this year and plans to boost annual sales to 40,000 units in the next three years.

According to the Indonesian Automotive Industries Association ( Gaikindo), Nissan's sales stood at 6,989 units in the first half of the year with SUV X-Trail accounting for some 60 percent of total sales.

"We plan to be more aggressive in entering the MPV market as part of our business expansion in Indonesia," he said.

Source: Xinhua