Japanese car manufacturer Daihatsu will materialize a new investment of 70 million U.S. dollars in Indonesia next year through local unit PT Astra Daihatsu Motor ( ADM) in the company's effort to increase production.

The new investment will be made in the first quarter of 2006 to boost production to 150,000 units a year from the current 114,000, ADM vice president Sudriman said in a gathering with local media in the West Java town of Sukabumi Friday.

The investment will be sued to finance the construction of a new assembly plant in the Jakarta suburb of Karawang and expansion of the Sunter plant in North Jakarta.

The new plant and expanded factory will create 1,400 jobs.

"The Daihatsu headquarters in Japan has decided to make Indonesia its foreign production base and export base for the Daihatsu global business," he was quoted by the Detikcom news website as saying.

Daihatsu grabs 10.5 percent of the Indonesian market share until the first seven months of this year.

Sudirman said Daihatsu aims to hit global sales of 1 million from the current 820,000.

Source: Xinhua