INDONESIA/AUTOMOTIVE

Toyota’s low-cost car may be built in Indonesia
Indonesia is among a number of Asian countries for which Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) considers to choose as production base for low-cost cars, executives said Friday.

Indonesia must compete with Vietnam, China and India to win the project, TMC senior managing director Akira Okabe was quoted by the national Antara news agency as saying in Nagoya.

"The demand for low-cost car keeps growing. And yes, Toyota is entering the segment: small car with low fuel consumption," he said.

TMC engineers are working on the economy car concept, which will be different from that of India's manufacturer Tata, the $3,000 car named Nano.

Toyota's low-cost car, he said, will not compromise safety aspects and environmental concerns.

"Nano is very cheap, around $3,000 per unit. Ours will be higher than that," he said without elaborating.

Toyota has not decided which country will be selected for the global production of the low-cost car.

"Indonesia is not the sole choice, Vietnam also has the potential," he said.

India and China also have an equal opportunity to host the global production of Toyota's small cars when the global demand is growing large, he said.