VW to Assemble Cars in Indonesia, Thailand

Volkswagen AG, which began assembling cars from kits in Malaysia last year, says it will do the same in Indonesia and Thailand in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Armin Keller, who heads sales operation for VW in ASEA, tells AutoBeat Asia the facilities will help make the company less vulnerable to exchange rates, while establishing regional hubs.

Keller, speaking on the sidelines of the Global Automotive Forum in Wuhan, China, recently, expects the ASEAN car market to reach 3 million units by 2015 and 6 million by 2020.

VW plans to spend $100 million to set up a facility in each country that can assemble 10,000-15,000 vehicles annual from partially assembled kits. Keller says the company intends to introduce three or four models in the two markets.

In Indonesia, the company plans to make Transporter minibuses and Multivan large vans at a facility in Jakarta. Keller says initial production there will be about 1,200 units per year.