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espite having eyed Indonesia as a potential investment destination for quite a long time, South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. has yet to decide to build a manufacturing plant here, a top executive says.

The carmaker’s local unit PT Hyundai Mobil Indonesia president director, Jongkie D. Sugiarto, said Sunday that its mother company had conducted a feasibility study to explore investment possibilities here several years ago, but had yet to make a decision.

“The investment would certainly be huge, so Hyundai may need to think thoroughly about it,” he told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

Jongkie said that setting up a manufacturing plant in Indonesia would be a good decision for Hyundai as the country had a big domestic market with a population of around 230 million. “Hyundai can also export vehicles produced in Indonesia to other ASEAN countries,” he said, citing several carmakers who had made the move.

Currently, Hyundai operates an assembly plant in Bekasi, West Java, which produces various kinds of Hyundai vehicles, such as the Accent sub-compact and new Tucson SUV.

A number of automotive firms have unveiled their plans to increase production in Indonesia in a bid to catch up with surging demand for vehicles in the Southeast Asia’s largest economy. PT Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia (TMMIN), a joint venture between PT Astra International and Toyota Motor Corp., said Wednesday that it would invest some Rp 1.7 trillion (US$198.9 million) in 2012 to increase its factory capacity in Karawang, West Java, from 100,000 cars to 140,000 cars per annum.

PT Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM), a joint venture of Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd., PT Astra International and Toyota Susho Corporation, commenced Friday the construction of a new factory in East Karawang, West Java, with an investment of some
Rp 2.1 trillion. The project will enhance its annual car production capacity from 330,000 to 430,000.

Earlier this month, Industry Minister MS Hidayat revealed that Japanese car producer Suzuki Motor Corp. also wanted to expand its production capacity with a total investment of $800 million.

The Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) predicted that car sales might increase to 830,000 units this year. During the first quarter of this year, car sales reached 225,061 units, up 30 percent from 174,074 units in the same period last year.

Last year, car sales rebounded to 744,985 units, a 52.4 percent jump from 488,912 units a year earlier as the market recovered from the 2009 economic slump.