Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has announced the commemoration of a new manufacturing plant in the GIIC Industrial Estate in Bekasi Prefecture in Indonesia.

Mitsubishi Motors Krama Yudha Indonesia (MMKI), its joint manufacturing company with Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and its Indonesian partner PT Krama Yudha (KY) held a ceremony at the site.

The new manufacturing plant, with a production capacity of 160,000 units per year, will start operations in April 2017. The production models will be an all-new Pajero Sport SUV, followed by a new small MPV model and then the Colt L300 (currently consignment production) will be added. Some parts of these vehicles built there will be exported to other ASEAN countries as the next major ASEAN production hub after the Laem Chabang Plant in Thailand. The plant will employ around 3,000 people by March 2018.

At the ceremony, Mitsubishi chairman and CEO Osamu Masuko, described MMC's progress in the country, "For 45 years since 1970, together with business partners we have been developing business in Indonesia along with the growth of the automobile market of the country. In order to achieve further development in the next 45 years, we decided to establish MMKI and build its new manufacturing plant at the GIIC Industrial Estate. We will further contribute to the development of Indonesia's automobile industry and society through employment of 3,000 staff at the new manufacturing plant, development of new part suppliers, promotion of local part procurement, technology transfer, and export."

Indonesia has the fourth largest population in the world and demand for passenger cars, mainly for small MPVs, is growing in the market.