[Kabar-indonesia] Astra denies report of Geely tie-up

[Joyo at aol.com]

Indonesia's Astra denies report of Geely tie-up

JAKARTA, November 2 (Reuters) - Indonesia's largest
automotive distributor, PT Astra International Tbk , denied
on Thursday a media report that it planned to team up with
Chinese automaker, The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

Xinhua news agency reported Zhejiang Geely planned to
jointly establish a factory with a local car maker near
Jakarta to assemble Geely cars, and would sell them in
Southeast Asian countries in the near future.

Xinhua said under the agreement Geely would provide
equipment, technology and personnel training while Astra
would offer workers and workshops.

"That's not true, we have no cooperation with Geely, we have
nothing with them, the report was unsubstantiated," said
Richard Santosa, Astra's head of investor relations.

Astra controls more than half the automotive sales in
Southeast Asia's largest economy. Singapore's Jardine Cycle
& Carriage Ltd is the controlling shareholder of Astra,
which has businesses ranging from automotives to banks and
plantations.

Global automakers are targeting Indonesia to tap into the
growing compact cars market, which has been gaining
importance after the government sharply increased fuel
prices last year to scale back its costly fuel subsidies.

China's Chery Automobile has introduced and set up a
production facility for its Chery QQ model. The model has an
800 cc engine and is priced at just over $8,000, making it
one of the cheapest passenger cars in the country.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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