JAKARTA, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Japan's giant car producer Toyota Motor Corp. will team up with its subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co. to produce and sell a new type of multipurpose vehicle (MPV) in Indonesia, possibly to be launched next year, according to local media Wednesday.

    Toyota spokesman Tetsuo Kitagawa said that the two companies had invested around 180 million U.S. dollars in Indonesia for the new cars to be produced at Daihatsu's Indonesian subsidiary PT Astra Daihatsu Motor.

    "The cars will not only be sold in Indonesia, but also in the South East Asian region,"" Kitagawa was quoted by The Jakarta Post newspaper's website as saying.

    Toyota holds a 51 percent stake in Daihatsu.

    Kitagawa explained that Toyota had chosen Indonesia and Thailand to be the center of its production plants for the region, with Indonesia selected to develop the new MPV and Thailand for a new type of light pickup truck.

    He said the production plant in Indonesia would have an initial production capacity of 70,000 units, with some 10,000 of those earmarked for export.

    The plant would also produce 180,000 gasoline-powered engines for the new MPVs and pickup trucks, he said, adding that around 130,000 of the engines would be exported to Thailand.