“The improvement in the automotive sector will greatly affect the country’s economic activities in other sectors,” said the minister on Thursday as reported by kompas.com

Mitsubishi began exporting Thursday Xpander vehicles to the Philippines. In its initial step, the carmaker sent 400 of the 21,000 cars ordered for 2018. Mitsubishi set a target to export 30,000 Xpander MPVs to the country.

The carmaker also plans to export the MPVs to Thailand (6,000 cars), Vietnam (1,000), African countries (1,000), Middle Eastern countries (500) and South American countries (500).

Airlangga expressed appreciation over Mitsubishi’s contribution to the country’s economy. This year, it has invested Rp 7.1 trillion (US$509.79 million) to increase its production to 160,000 cars annually and employ about 3,000 workers.

“Although the company has employed sophisticated robots, [...] human resources are still needed. I heard Mitsubishi targets to employ 4,000 people,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation CEO Osamu Masuko explained that the company had expanded monthly production of Xpander MPVs to 8,000 from the previous 5,000 cars. He said that in July, the company would expand production to 10,000 cars to serve both the domestic and international markets.

Last year, Mitsubishi exported 231,000 completely built-up vehicles, a 20 percent growth from the previous year. (bbn)

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