Mitsubishi Cuts Ribbon on New Indonesia Plant

Mitsubishi opens a 160,000-unit-a-year vehicle-assembly plant in Indonesia in a strategy aimed at making the brand the biggest in the Southeast Asian country.

The ¥65 billion ($565 million) state-of-the-art Bekasi facility will employ 3,000 workers by next March.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Mitsubishi Chairman Carlos Ghosn and CEO Osamu Masuko attended the plant opening, which the automaker says will strengthen its presence in Indonesia and the wider ASEAN region.

“The Bekasi assembly facility symbolizes our ambition to be a market leader in Indonesia,” Masuko says. “This will enable us to build share in a market where we have been present for more than 45 years.”

New-vehicle demand in Indonesia, which has the fourth largest population in the world with more than 260 million people, is expected to grow faster than the overall economy. Vehicle ownership in Indonesia, at 78 per 1,000 people, lags China and is less than half that in regional neighbor Thailand.

The plant will start off producing the Pajero Sport SUV, followed by an all-new 7-seat multipurpose vehicle and the Colt L300 light-commercial vehicle.

The Bekasi plant forms part of Mitsubishi’s expansion strategy in the ASEAN region, where it also assembles vehicles in Thailand and the Philippines.

The growth plan is supported by Nissan, which acquired a 34% stake in Mitsubishi, now considered a member of the global Renault-Nissan Alliance.

“This plant represents a vote of confidence in Indonesia, in the ASEAN region and in the growth prospects of Mitsubishi Motors,” Ghosn says in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi for the first time is the No.1 automotive exporter in Thailand, shipping 309,915 units in the 12-month fiscal-year period ending March 31.

The export performance makes its Laem Chabang factory in Thailand the largest global production hub for Mitsubishi, with more than 80% of its production exported.

The plant's production capacity is largest among all Mitsubishi factories, and vehicles are exported to more than 120 countries.

“The Laem Chabang plant in Thailand is a tremendous strength of Mitsubishi Motors' business” Ghosn says. “Our world-class production facilities are capable of producing 424,000 vehicles a year. As Thailand's leading automotive exporter, this factory has become the global production hub for Mitsubishi Motors."

Mitsubishi operates four plants in Thailand that employ more than 6,000 workers and last fiscal year produced 356,000 vehicles.

The main export destinations are Europe (28%), ASEAN/Asia (25%), North America (21%) and Oceania (12%), with the rest of the world accounting for 14%.