Indonesia sees chance to rump up automotive industry in ASEAN market

JAKARTA (Xinhua) - The Indonesian government expected automotive industry to develop faster when the ASEAN economic community kicks off next year, a minister said here on Monday.

Indonesian Industry Minister MS Hidayat disclosed that the competitiveness of the country's automotive industry has been on the rise as huge investment flew in the last two years.

The minister promised that the government would keep supporting the efforts to raise competitiveness.

"The ASEAN economic community will be an opportunity for domestic automotive industry to develop," Minister Hidayat said at Industry Ministry.

The minister disclosed that the capacity of the country's  automotive industry has risen recently due to rapid investment in the sector.

"The capacity of Indonesia's automotive factory has hiked to 2 million annually following the huge investment flows in the last two years," Hidayat said.

The biggest economy in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, manufactured 1.2 million cars last year, according to the data from ministry.

His upbeat over the industry's progress in the years to come was also caused by the presence of over 1,500 factories producing components for supporting the automotive industry.

"For this year, the export of the car is projected to rise to 200,000 units," he added.

So far, Indonesia's automotive industry ranks the second, after Thailand, in the region.

Nevertheless, having political stability and sound macro- economic condition, Indonesia has been expected to be production base by several foreign car makers.