Mitsubishi's new Indonesia plant studying production of Nissan derivative

Mitsubishi Motors Corp <7211.T> and Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> are studying joint production of so-called multi-purpose ���people mover��� vehicles at a new manufacturing facility Mitsubishi officially opened on Tuesday.

Trevor Mann, Mitsubishi Motors' chief operating officer, told Reuters that Nissan is now exploring the possibility of using a new Mitsubishi multi-purpose vehicle, whose production is due to start later this year at the new plant near Jakarta, to ���make a derivative ... for Nissan���.

The Bekasi plant has been designed and built to have capacity to produce 160,000 vehicles a year. Mitsubishi plans to use the factory to export some models to other markets in the region such as Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, Mann said.

(Reporting By Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)