Malaysia's national carmaker Proton plans to open up to 10 sales and service centers in Indonesia by March 2008, local press reported today.

This is to facilitate Proton's target of capturing a 1.7 percent share of all vehicles sold in the neighboring country in five years, directors of Proton's Indonesian marketing arm was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

Three outlets were opened in Jakarta last Saturday and the other ones will be located in Samarang, Surabaya, Bali, Makasar, Medan, Jogjakarta and Bandung.Proton will directly operate two outlets and the balance of eight are to be run by independent dealers, directors Norhisham Kamal and Dwi Sasetia told Malaysian reporters in Jakarta.

Savvy and Gen. 2 are the first Proton models sold in Indonesia as passenger cars starting from last Saturday, while the Wira model has been on the road there as a taxi since last August.

"We have to change the perception that Proton is only a taxi manufacturer. We need to have strong promotion. We do hope that with the outlets in the main cities, Indonesians will accept Proton 's other models too," Dwi said.Earlier media reports said Proton has managed to position itself in the top three spot in Indonesia's taxi market since last year.