Mercedes intending to make RI bus production base for three regions

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - German auto maker Mercedes Benz intends to make Indonesia a production base for its buses for markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, a company executive said.

"Our choice fell on Indonesia because we have experience in investing in this country and Indonesia is a potential market for passenger cars like buses," Mercedes Benz CEO for Indonesia Rudi Borgenheimer said after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla here, Tuesday.

He said, he would hold further internal meetings on the plan with the company`s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.

"The formal decision (to make Indonesia a Mercedes Benz bus production base) will possibly be taken within the next six months. After that, in two or three years our factory in Indonesia (in Gunung Putri, Bogor) can begin production," he added.

To increase its bus production capacity to 9,000 units and meet demand in the three regions of the world, Mercedes Benz would have to make a total investment of some 10 million Euro.

Currently, Mercedes Benz was turning out 600 buses and 2,250 sedans per year in Indonesia.

With the plan to make Indonesia a bus production base for three regions, the company would increase its production capacity to 9,000 units per year, Brgenheimer said.

"We are optimistic about this plan. Because we have the experience and a good history in Indonesia. In the early 1990s we were producing 2,000 buses per year in Indonesia," he said.