The new plant, to be built on STM’s current premises, will give STM an annual diesel engine production capacity of 350,000 units, up from 200,000 units. Including gasoline engines, STM will have an overall production capacity of 650,000 engines a year.

As a global production and supply base for the Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle (IMV) Project, begun in 2004, STM provides diesel engines to IMV-producing countries. In 2007, STM produced 229,000 diesel engines, of which 72,000 were exported to six countries, including India and ASEAN member countries.

The STM expansion is to meet increasing demand for the IMV series, which is popular in various regions around the world, and will be backed by an additional investment of approximately ¥17.3 billion yen (US$162 million).

Currently, the IMV series consists of three types of pickup truck, a minivan and an SUV.