Japan carmaker Suzuki to build second plant in Myanmar

Japanese automaker Suzuki plans to invest tens of millions of dollars to build a second plant in Myanmar, seeking to make quick inroads in the country's growing market, a report said Saturday.

The small-car maker has already secured a roughly 20-hectare (50-acre) plot at the Thilawa special economic zone southeast of Yangon for the new plant, the Nikkei business daily said.

Construction is expected to start later this year, with the facility slated to come online in 2017, the newspaper added.

Suzuki is expected to invest several billion yen and hire about 300 staffers, aiming to increase Suzuki's output in Myanmar by more than five times, it said.

At the new plant, Suzuki plans to produce some 10,000 cars a year, including the Ertiga, a seven-seat compact, by assembling imported parts.

Suzuki initially began production in the country in 1999 through a local joint venture but pulled out in 2010 due partly to its military regime.

The firm resumed production there in 2013 after the democratisation process began and now churns out some 150 of its Carry mini-trucks a month at the country's only car factory.

Immediate confirmation of the report was not available.