New Indonesian-made Daihatsu Model In 2016, Full R&D By 2019

Daihatsu Motor's Indonesian joint venture, Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM) will be producing a new, unnamed, high-volume model in 2016, reports the Indonesian press.

The new Daihatsu-developed model will be sold both as a Toyota and a Daihatsu, just like the Daihatsu Xenia (Toyota Avanza), Daihatsu Terios (Toyota Rush) and Daihatsu Ayla (Toyota Agya).

Not much else is known about the model but ADM's President Director, Prijono Sugiarto has been quoted by the Indonesian press as saying that the new model will play a key role in the company's aim to produce its 5 millionth vehicle in 2016.

The company produced its 4 millionth car on 7-May 2015. ADM has a total annual production capacity of 530,000 units (under two shifts of fixed intervals), spread across two plants.

ADM did not mention if the model will be exported to Malaysia (like the Rush and Avanza), but said that the company aims to boost exports from the current 15 percent of its total production to 30 percent.

On a related note, ADM also said that by 2019, its R&D Centre, which was opened in 2012 and comprises of a design building, a design experimentation building, and Indonesia’s first test course, will by 2019 be capable of producing a full model change (all-new model) Daihatsu model.

Indonesia is Daihatsu's largest overseas operations and several of its models, including the Xenia, Terios (different from the European/Japanese market Terios) and Ayla are developed primarily for the Indonesian market. The Indonesia-made Daihatsu Gran Maxx model is also exported to Japan as the Toyota LiteAce and TownAce (Gran Maxx pick-up).