The China-based automotive manufacturer Beiqi Foton Motor planned to set up an assembling plant in Indonesia to support its aim in dominating the Asia Pacific market, the Bisnis Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

Dong Haiyang, Vice President of Beiqi Foton Motor Co. who is also the general manager of Foton International Trade Co. Ltd., regarded Indonesia as an important market in the Asia Pacific region.

He said that Foton's investment in Indonesia would be a production base for Foton's market in the region.

Setting up a production plant in Indonesia is part of Foton's global business strategy, he added.

"Outside China and Indonesia, we now run assembling plants in Thailand, Mexico and South Africa," Dong said on the sidelines of a Foton Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV) launching in the ongoing 2009 Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) exhibition.

As a new comer in bus, truck and heavy duty vehicle market in Indonesia, which, Dong said, is a lucrative market in the Asia Pacific region, Foton set realistic sale targets in the market.

"We set a target to secure two percent market share in our category within three years and improving to three percent in the following two years," Dong said.

In Indonesia, the Beijing-based automotive manufacturer has setup cooperation with two domestic firms, PT Foton Mobilindo and PT Foton Indonesia that handle the sale distribution and heavy duty truck import respectively.

It also allocated some 300,000 U.S. dollars to develop the after sales services and secure the spare parts supplies to satisfy its Indonesian customers.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2009)